A Game of Gods
by Quantum Cat
Summary: "Reality shifted. Black woke up." When the twisted path becomes his only choice, Black will have to rely on his wits, his team, and his annoying starter, Xanatos whose ego could fill the moon. A Nuzlocke chronicle...
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

There's a reason they are legendary.

* * *

There once were two brothers, who were feared by all.

Their partner was fiercer than gods.

Enemies quailed before their might. Kings kneeled before their glory.

They climbed to the peak of the world, famously known for rendering the closest of bonds to shreds.

The first of them to get there stared into the plain fogginess of the heavens. And then he turned to the other two, just arrived, and asked the question that would change the world.

* * *

The world shifted.

Black woke up.

He stared at his ceiling, trying to process why he was up so early. Something did not seem right with this picture...

"Black! Someone from the lab came by earlier with a package for you and your friends!"

Black's eyes widened. "Wait- Did the professor really...?"

He heard his mom open the door. Instinctively, Black hid himself under his covers even further. As much as he loved her, his mother tolerated no lollygagging when it came to waking up in the morning. He didn't feel like partaking in his normal morning rituals if today actually was the day.

He heard her put something on his desk.

She sighed. "I know you're awake."

He didn't say a thing.

"Fine, fine . . . since today's your big day I'll let it slide, just this once."

That last part was said with a hint of wistfulness. Black knew why, but the package on his desk stopped him from feeling the same.

The door closed, signaling her departure. Once he was sure she was gone he threw off his covers and leapt out of bed. He was at the desk in an instant, and practically ripped off the boxes cover in his eagerness.

Three shiny pokeballs lay in the box, each with a different sticker marking their type. Grass, fire, and water. Snake, boar, and otter. He knew the ins and outs of these particular three better than any other. Having worked with Professor Juniper for years in preparation for his License Exam, he and his friends had access to more resources than other trainees. The Unova starters were, of course, of special interest to him.

With a grin and a pounding heart, he reached for his very first Pokémon.

**End Prologue**

**Author Notes: For those who don't know, a Nuzlocke is a playthrough a Pokémon game whose main tenets are as follows: catch the first Pokémon of every route, and if they faint at any point in the game: They. Are. Dead.**

**It can be an interesting experience, and many people chronicle their runs in some form. Comics and stories seem to be the most popular from what I have seen. This won't just be a retelling of Pokémon White/Black though. That would be too easy.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

History does not remember them for their power.

* * *

There once was a magical mirror that would show any who looked their truest self. Lies melted away before its glass, and men and women would walk away forever changed.

One day, the king of the land ordered his men to bring the mirror him. He wished forever be honest with his people.

When the mirror arrived, there was much fanfare in his court.

But, when the king walked before the mirror, he did not see himself. Instead the mirror split in tween and became two creatures of the ebb and flow.

And as the creatures began to clash for no fathomable reason, the world burned.

* * *

Unusually intelligent eyes stared at Black. Something told him that the owner of those eyes did not think very highly of Black already.

"Umm...return."

The eyes narrowed but before the Pokémon could react to the sudden command, it had already disappeared with a flash of light.

The room was silent as Black stared at the Pokéball in his grip. That . . . was not how he expected the meeting with his starter to go. As soon as Black had released him from the ball, he and the starter had become deadlocked in a staring contest.

And now he felt like he'd just failed a test.

Black sighed, but quickly cheered himself up when he reminded himself that today he could finally go on his journey.

The Unova region, much like the other regions, still bore the tradition of young men and women leaving home on a Pokémon journey. Some did so for their whole lives, loving the tread beneath their feet and the thrill of the unknown so much. Others stopped after only a few cities, satisfied with what they've learned and eager to move on to the next chapter of their lives.

But it wasn't just tradition that prompted people to up and leave home for months on end. The League oversaw the growth and evolution of these trainers, always on the lookout for talents to add to the organization. In fact, the majority, if not a good number of careers nowadays were League-sponsored.

That was not to say it was necessary to win eight badges and the Champion's title just to become a salarymen at a company, but some level of proficiency was expected. However, nowadays it seemed that with the widespread amount of League trainers and with the amount of pies the League had their sticky fingers in, it seemed like any twat with a Watchog could make it in. It was probably a good thing; otherwise the other regions might not like it if everyone in the region was so skilled.

While the general populace was fuzzy on the details, the League had originated at some point in the past after the Great Storm had passed. Back when humans were afraid to venture outside of their little holes for fear of death reaping their lives. A coalition of people with sensible heads and good enough survival skills banded together and suddenly, fast-forwarding countless centennials later, you have got the most powerful organization on the entire continent. Now, only the other leagues in Sinnoh and Kanto and their own corporate monsters were any credible threat at all.

The militaristic nature of many of the League's functions was not lost on anyone at all, but with them not denying it and still serving as reasonable governing body, no one seemed to want to rock the boat.

Black ceased his musing as he began to get his traveling kit. Fortunately, Professor Juniper had been kind enough to help him and Bianca prepare for the trip a couple of weeks ago. Cheren, smug jerk that he was, had been prepared for over a year already.

Black held no illusions about his respective capability among his group of friends. While he was fairly certain he could best Bianca, Cheren's preparation and intellect regarding battling was astounding. Still, he admitted to himself, it would be nice to take the other teen down a peg or two.

Looking around the room, and making sure he had not left anything important, Black smiled. Arceus, this was really happening wasn't it? He had spent years waiting for this day. It was almost unreal.

First things first though, he had to deliver the box to his friends. He wasn't the only person who'd been waiting for this day. Heaven knows Bianca had been aching for this journey since she was a kid.

Then again, he and Cheren weren't far behind that idea. Silly boys and their respective crushes on the same girl.

The teen smiled wistfully as he recalled those simpler times. Times when he didn't have to worry about his family's debts and whether or not he'd keep Professor Juniper's sponsorship.

While no one could say that Nuvema Town was disconnected from the world, there was a certain isolation from the rest of the region that made it difficult to get into the League program. Other cities had fully equipped academic centers that prepared students not just for the journey but also provided them with education that would prove useful for any walk of life. In fact, it would not be uncommon to find people who attended only for the high-quality education and not the journey itself.

However, Nuvema town had no such thing, and he once upon a time despaired of boarding at one of these centers so he would be able to go on the journey. Fortunately though, Professor Juniper, who had a few contacts within the League itself, managed to pull some strings for him and his friends. The idea was that she would sponsor his and his friends' education, in exchange for help around the lab, something that really was only perceived as an all around win to Black. However, in this case, there would be no official system to judge them ready, only the Professor's approval. This meant a stint of more than a few years of working around the lab, something that did annoy him a tad.

But that period of his life was over. Over and done with. He supposed he might miss the environment, but he was more than ready to try his hand at something new. While he was fascinated by her research, Black believed he just wasn't cut out for academic pursuits.

As he descended the stairs, Black caught sight of his mother sitting at the table reading the newspaper. He frowned when he caught sight of the bags under her eyes and frowned further still as he caught sight of the stack of bills by her side.

He quietly sat at the table, helping himself to a slice of toast and some butter. The stack seemed to have grown. Black had a feeling that some rather big numbers were printed on them.

Truth be told, he didn't know how his mother managed to pay the bills since he had never seen her go to work. And he knew that the pension that the League provided for "services rendered for the good and safety of the World Pokémon League and its constituents" was not nearly enough to raise a child. Whatever those services were, he had no idea, and she refused to talk about it whenever he brought the subject up.

He'd long ago concluded that she was miracle worker when it came to money, and decided to leave it at that.

But the key word in that description was the 'worker', not the 'miracle'. At the end of the day, she was still only human.

"You should head out soon, you know," his mother calmly pointed out. "Those friends of yours are waiting for you as well, aren't they?"

Black raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean you _want_ me to leave?"

"Do you want me to want you to leave?"

The teen rolled his eyes but didn't deign her with a response. Instead, he said, "I'll be by later to finish up my packing and stuff. I'm not going to run off for no reason."

His mother snorted but said nothing except for a quick mumble of "Don't forget your X-transceiver."

He frowned at her nonchalant attitude but held back from commenting. No use in disturbing a sleeping Hydreigon, as they'd say . . . or something along those lines.

Grabbing his X-transceiver off the counter, Black ran upstairs to get the box before. He put the package under his arm, kissed his mom on the cheek, and went out the door.

"I wonder why the Professor didn't just have them come over to the lab to begin with?" The woman at the table murmured to herself as she got to work on the crossword puzzle in the news.

* * *

Black stared nervously into Bianca's father's eyes. The older man was sharply dressed in a black business suit, with a dark green tie around the man's neck. His light blonde hair was slicked back enough so that no strands hung over his forehead, and the man's grey eyes certainly didn't look too pleased with the sight before them.

The young teen knew it had something to do with that fact that he worked with Bianca at the lab than anything personal with him. That didn't make staring down the man any more pleasant though.

"Uhh . . . is Bianca in right now?"

If it were possible, it seemed the man's stern face turned to stone at the question. Black resisted the urge to snicker. The man looked constipated.

"She is at the lab. Aurea called her over earlier today." It was like the man was fighting with himself when saying those words.

"Who?"

"Juniper."

And with that, the man closed the door in Black's face. The teen stared at the knocker for a moment or two, and sighed.

No wonder Bianca never wanted to stay home. With a father like that, it was a wonder the house wasn't covered in snow with how frigid the man was. Black had heard of the man's reputation (and may have contributed a bit to the rumors about him as well), but it was still a small shock to be treated like that every time he came to visit.

Stretching his neck, Black decided that he might as well skip going to Cheren's place, figuring that the Professor called him over too.

He tried not to feel incredibly relieved.

Remembering that his friends were probably eagerly waiting for him as well, he decided to hurry over to the Lab.

It took him around twenty minutes for him to walk over to the lab. It would have taken him less, but Black found himself enjoying his last stroll through his hometown for what would be a long time.

Eventually, he came up to the lab, but when he swiped in his key card, the door didn't slide open like it usually did.

"The hell?" Black muttered, as he swiped his card again. Nothing happened.

Maybe the system was malfunctioning or something.

After trying a few more times just to make sure, he decided to figure it out later and instead used the video intercom.

He was pleased to see that his earlier hunch was right when he saw Cheren's face pop up on the screen.

"Black?" The other boy was clearly confused.

Black smiled. "Hey Cheren, mind opening up? My card's not working for some reason."

Cheren raised an eyebrow at that. "That's odd. I'm going to have to talk to Hendricks about that."

With that said, the door slid open, and the video went black, but Cheren's voice was still heard through the speaker system.

"Me and Bianca are waiting in front of the Aquatics Research Area 5. The professor said you've got something for us? Mind telling us what it is?" The voice was carefully mild, just like Cheren, but even Black could hear the change in pitch belying excitement.

Black smiled. Even he felt giddy at the thought of introducing his friends to the box holding the starter Pokémon. His palm itched as he wondered if maybe, _just maybe_, they'd want to battle.

And he felt like a giddy schoolgirl at the thought. A real battle -with his friends, and his Pokémon, and their Pokémon- was just the thing to mark this big day. He and the others had run simulations beforehand, and while they did hold the kind of appeal that once upon a time would have him playing up until 3:23 in the morning on a work night, the idea of real battle was more exhilarating than anything.

He reached the research area quickly. Despite the name, the area was more of a giant diorama for aquatic environments than any sort of research space.

Cheren and Bianca were already there, one looking stiff and tense, while another tittered to and fro on her feet as she waited. When they caught sight of Black, or more importantly, the box with the Pokéball symbol on it, Bianca let out a loud girlish squeal.

"IknewitIknewitIknewit!" She gushed, and then did a sort of jump. "The Professor's gotten us Pokémon!"

All the tension in the glasses wearing teen seemed to melt off of him at her enthusiasm.

"It certainly seems that way, doesn't it? So. Black." His name was said with such force that said teen nearly jumped back from it. "Is she right? Do we have our starters?"

Not nearly as surprised by their reactions as some other person would be, Black nodded. "They were sent over to my house earlier this morning."

"I wonder why," mumbled Cheren as he stared at the box, but continued. "No matter then. I take it you've already picked one?"

Black at least had the grace to look sheepish. "Ah well, you see, I was really excited and I'd just woken up, so my judgment may have been a bit o-"

"Do you regret picking your starter?" The words were said with such intensity that Black had to pause his speech. Really, Cheren could be damn pushy sometimes.

"Not at all, it's just that I just realized how unfair it must be that I started first y'know? I mean, it was sent over to my house, so I had three options to pick from and -"

"Seriously. Be quiet and get over here."

And so Black followed the order, and would vehemently deny to any who asked that it was because he was afraid of Cheren, who, despite appearances, seemed rather angry at having heard his friend went first and started without them.

He opened the parcel as he neared, and held it underneath the inquiring gaze of his best friends.

The two of them looked inside, taking particular notice of which Pokéball held which starter based on the stickers.

Cheren spoke first, and his voice sounded dry when he said, "Ladies first."

Black hid a smile from them both. Oh, how conflicted he probably was. Chivalry could be such a bother sometimes, no?

But Bianca let out a happy titter, and quickly hugged the other boy for his kindness. And then, faster than an angry Bouffalant, Bianca grabbed one of the Pokéballs and held it in both hands.

Which set off a round of cheering from her that really wasn't appropriate considering the lack of appreciative audience.

Cheren picked the ball out of the box and stared at it, a small smile gracing his face.

His obviously deep moment would have looked good for a pose had Bianca not tackled him. Before Black could even think to laugh at his expense, the blonde girl had grabbed his arm in a surprisingly strong grip, and pulled him into a group hug.

She had her arms around them both, and part of Black wanted nothing more than to get out of this hug, because he just knew some of the other aides were going to mess with him if they saw this on the security tape later. But at the same time, he couldn't deny that having his best friend hug him like this was nice, even if Cheren was mumbling incoherent words of embarrassment.

"We did it, you guys! I'm soooooooo happy! Oh, Mama's going to be so proud!"

Suddenly, she's letting go, and backing away, and Black could see her whole body tremble.

"Alright guys! Let's battle!"

_Wait, what?!_

Cheren quickly recomposed himself and offered her a smirk. Black felt tempted to point out that the red on his cheeks ruined the image.

"Shouldn't we wait until the Professor arrives?" Even as he said it, it was clear he wasn't being completely serious.

Black pulled his own Pokéball from his belt and backed away from the two.

"Feels right, y'know?"

Cheren's response was to stare down at the two of them.

". . . Fine."

And with that Cheren released his Pokémon. The flash of light took shape and suddenly where there once stood nothing, a small little Tepig looked ready and willing to charge.

If he weren't sure it would annoy the others greatly, Black would have been cussing Cheren out three-ways to Sunday. _Of course_ Cheren is going to pick the fire-type.

"Alright! Let's go Monty!" Bianca shouted as she let out her own. A small blue Oshawott appeared right next to her, trying -and failing- to look intimidating. The fluffy little creature looked more like something out of an after-school cartoon than a true threat.

_'Nicknames, huh? Well then-'_

"Bring 'em down, Xanatos!"

What could he say? Their dramatics were infectious. And fun.

He felt more than saw his starter show up at his side. The Snivy materialized with all the grace and poise characteristic of his species. Like last time, the little snake was already staring at Black when he showed up. That x-ray feeling came back to Black, who ignored it in favor of smiling encouragingly at the serpent.

"Ready for this?" Arceus, he hoped so, because Black felt like his knees were wobblier than a drunken Sawk.

The Snivy -Xanatos, that is- immediately took notice of the apprehension. And of the situation. And of his starter brethren practically breathing down upon him.

The little snake made a sound that could be interpreted as a "Tsk" from a human, and faced the other two Pokémon directly.

_"I'm yours to command, trainer."_

Black just stared.

Oh, hell no.

**End Chapter 1**

**Author Note: Talking Pokémon? Why yes, that is happening. I could do an entire story based around creatures communicating via body language and crap, but I'm already doing that in my other fic (Legend of Zelda one, where Link is the mute).**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

They are not gods.

* * *

There once was a man who loved his land. He was a simple man, with hands no more impure than an infant's.

One day, war broke out between his land and the land of Arceus' chosen people. His land began to cry for its fallen.

There lived a legendary Charmeleon in his village, said to be a master blacksmith. The man approached the Charmeleon and begged him to provide him with a weapon that would allow him to save his land.

Seeing the light in his eyes, the Charmeleon agreed. He worked for days in his little shop, sweating and cursing as he made the most beautiful work of his life.

Finally, he presented the man with his work. One piece silently roared like an inferno, while the other shrieked like the wildest storms.

But when he went to grab the blades, one of the blades rose up and struck. The man fell, his lifeblood pooling beneath him. And as the killer's kin wept for its master, the two began their eternal clash.

* * *

_"Tsk. That all you got, Porkchop?"_

Black swallowed. Once upon a time he may have found the thought of this very _very_ cool. Now, it was just freaky.

The Tepig opposite of Xanatos fell, unable to stand on its legs any longer. Black supposed that he should be excited that he beat Cheren. If nothing else, this was something that he'd wanted to do for a while.

Seriously. Creepy stuff.

While not a general thing, some trainers did eventually begin to understand their team so well they'd almost seem psychic. But that was more to do with having been together so long, and having gone through all the special bonding crock that kid's shows kept spouting on Saturday mornings. Greenhorns didn't just suddenly begin to know what a Pokémon was saying.

The Snivy -no, Xanatos- turned back to Black.

_"Fun times, that was. Now, where's my payment?"_

Black blinked, but before he could say anything. Cheren had already returned his Tepig and walked over.

"You're a strong one aren't you?" Cheren smiled as he crouched down to Xanatos' eye level.

_"You're blocking my light."_

Black never knew Pokémon could understand the concept of snark so well. Even if the situation was straight out of the Dusknoir Zone, Black found it rather amusing.

Bianca whistled. "I have to say Cheren, lil' Xanatos here is one hell of a tough cookie."

Cheren's smile turned brittle. "Yes, I agree."

_"Yes, talk at me. Really. I feel so valued."_ Xanatos turned to Black. "_Ball, please?"_

It took a second to process the request, but soon Xanatos returned to the Pokéball. He would deal with this later. Later, Black thought, definitely later. Later, when he wasn't still riding high from the rush of his first battle and after he adjusted his weirdness meter. Who knew, maybe the world would start making sense again.

"I got lucky," Black said, surprising himself with his own words. "You had me beat there."

Cheren snorted. "The totality of our battle was nothing more than physical grandstanding on our starter's parts. How had I had you 'beat' at any point?"

"Um." Well, when he put it that way . . .

Off to the side, Bianca chuckled. "Oh be quiet Cheren, let him be humble. It's not like you haven't whooped our rears at everything else . . . ever. Right?"

Whooped our rears. Bianca was the only person their age that could say that without giggling afterwards.

Cheren looked away, a tinge of red coloring his cheeks. "Right. Sorry," he added by way of an apology.

Blacked waved it off. "Forget about it."

Cheren nodded, but a part of Black knew that more than a small part of his friend was bothered by the situation.

"You three look adorable," came Professor Juniper's voice. "You know, all nice and happy with your Pokémon, standing around not getting any work done, and having battles in an area with a pretty big sign forbidding just that right over there."

All three turned to see the sign. Shit.

The three teens looked to their sponsor/teacher once more. Where she came from, Black had no idea, but he had long since given up on trying to find that out. At the moment, she was giving them a look that wouldn't be out of place on a frustrated parent.

Neither Cheren nor Bianca said anything. They too, looked nervous at her sudden arrival.

Suddenly, the professor sighed. "Well, I suppose I am partially at fault as well. I shouldn't have told you three to meet me here anyways. It was practically asking for this to happen."

The three teens let out a simultaneous breath they were holding. They knew it was ridiculous, but the thought of having their Pokémon away so soon was a terrifying one.

"So, who won? It's just that me and Jarvis have this bet you see . . . "

* * *

The sun was falling down on Nuvema Town by the time Black and the others had left the lab. While the Professor had let them get off scot-free with the battling (mostly, Black suspected, because she was distracted by losing the bet), she still insisted on reviewing many of the things that a Trainer had to know.

Most of it had been on the emergency recall system installed in all Pokéballs preventing trainers from pushing their Pokémon too far or letting them sustain life-threatening injuries. Black hadn't paid much attention, as he was honestly still freaked by the talking thing.

That had taken up the rest of the morning and majority of the afternoon.

It was only after everyone's stomachs protested loudly at being ignored that Juniper let them head out for some food. Cheren and Bianca had decided to get something at the local café, while Black had backed out, claiming a knackering for some home-cooked food.

He felt bad for lying, but he really didn't want to deal with Bianca's or Cheren's reactions if they found it about what happened. Arceus knows they had their own problems to deal with.

After checking no one was following him, Black headed to the outskirts of Nuvema. He stopped a couple dozen feet from the forest, and released his starter.

A curled up Xanatos materialized on the ground. A second passed before the green Pokémon lazily opened an eye.

_"Seriously, again? Gimme' a break. I'm not made of that much awesome, you know."_

Black cleared his throat and took the proverbial leap. "If you ask me, I'd say talking with me sounds pretty damn awesome."

Xanatos stared at Black when he said that.

Did he really understand that or am I really flipping it? Black wondered.

_"You understand me." _

A moment passed, where all Black could do was nod his head.

_"...damn. I was hoping to get a stupid one."_

"W-what?" Black asked. Should I be offended or not, he thought to himself.

_"Right," _Xanatos said, standing up and stretching, "_You've just wrecked all my plans, trainer. Congratulations."_

"Black. My name's Black."

_"Simple. I like it. A simple name for a simple creature."_

Black tried not to let the annoyance show on his face. He could hear Juniper's lessons on Pokémon mentality and their attitudes and how to treat them. He could also distinctly remember that the Snivy line was one of the more condescending evolutionary lines in their interactions with other species.

That didn't make taking the insult any more pleasant.

"How can you talk?" Black asked. Finally, the million Pokédollar question.

Xanatos snorted._ "We talk all the time. It's you lot that don't listen."_

Not really, Black thought as he studied the Snivy. Any normal person would be flapping their mouths sounding out the words. Xanatos didn't do that. He would make some noise, not even any intelligible noise like those made by human vocal chords.

It was just some random sounds. The sounds Black would hear from any Pokémon. But somehow, between those sounds and Xanatos' body language, the meaning and intonation of the words settled into his head like feathers falling to the ground.

It was immensely unnerving.

"Those plans of yours," Black decided to try another route, "what were they?"

_"Take over the world."_

"I was serious."

_"So was I."_

"Right. Let's...let's just go," Black said, suddenly too tired to deal with such an uppity Pokémon at the moment.

_"Whatever you say, trainer."_ What an insufferable smirk it bore.

However, Black decided to let the little snake stay out of his Pokéball. No use in antagonizing his partner so soon. Plus, maybe it would provide him with insight on the situation.

They walked in silence, with Black leading the way. He kept glancing at Xanatos every few minutes, as if to check that his starter hadn't gone rogue and simply left him out to dry. Fortunately, Xanatos didn't comment on it, if he even noticed it to begin with.

Xanatos didn't look like a lab experiment Pokémon. He acted like a socially maladjusted jerk, but that wasn't the attitude of a Pokémon that had had syringes and electrodes stuck in it since Hatching. Black had dealt with those Pokémon. They held the kind of quiet resignation to their fate that came from knowing that things could be worse off.

Xanatos, as far as Black could tell, held the kind of loud proclamation to fate that it can go stuff itself.

So that was not an explanation for the talking then.

Black sighed. Wonderful. A mystery on his first day of being a trainer.

He spotted Cheren and Bianca sitting at the cafe they were talking about earlier. He was pleased to see that both of them had also released their Pokémon, who were happily chowing down on some food. If he didn't know any better (and because Bianca had made it quite clear that Cheren was not her type), he would say the two were on a date.

A not very small part of Black was inordinately pleased with that.

He greeted them, made up a lie about how he thought Xanatos should get something to eat as well, and ordered some food.

"So," Cheren began, and Black felt a familiar twinge of irritation surge, "where are you going from here, Black? I'm thinking of heading for Striaton right away, and I was wondering if you'd like to come with."

Translation: I want to travel with you to kick your ass in a rematch once I train up.

Black shrugged, not trusting his own mouth.

He was friends with Cheren, no doubt about that. He had been since they were kids. But the other boy had a problem with people close to him who were better than him in some things. And that made for a very unstable friendship that had resulted in more than a few fistfights, most of which Black would forever deny starting (or losing).

His food arrived then. For some reason, his debit card wasn't being accepted, and so he had to use his cash, much to his displeasure.

Suddenly Bianca was chattering away about her own plans for the future.

Normally, Black would be hanging on to what she was saying, but even he could admit she could be a bit of a ditz. So, like with his own mother, Black began to nod and grunt in the appropriate places as his mind began to wander.

Xanatos caught his eye and winked. "_Interesting friends you've got there. Of course,"_ and here he turned to look at Monty the Oshawott and Cheren's as-of-yet unnamed Tepig, "_can't say the same for these fellows. Did you know Monty's actually a girl?"_

Black decided that there was a reason people couldn't understand Pokémon. Xanatos was part of that reason.

Focusing on his food, Black tuned out the rest of the world as he worked on his plate.

* * *

"Right," Professor Juniper said as she softly tread through grass. "Easy question: name the main three species of Pokémon likely to show up in this area?"

"Audino, Patrat, and Lillipup." The three of them answered by rote.

Juniper gave a sharp nod. "Good. Next question: Why is it so many young Pokémon reside in this area?"

Both he and Bianca were silent. That was a very vague question to ask...

"The local Patrat and Lillipup are the offspring of the Watchog and Herdier that live beyond the thick forest of this area. The Wathog and Herdier routinely drop off any of their eggs in the area, in special enclaves for the sole purpose of Hatching. Any local predators are taken care of by the evolved ones, but the young ones are left to fend for themselves since they cannot brave the forest safely at their level."

And there came Cheren with the answer. Winning that battle didn't seem quite so impressive now.

The Professor's smile was shining. "Impressive, but expected. And the Audino?"

"They reproduce at an incredible rate relative to many other species, and can adapt to almost any type of environment. They are non-aggressive and often raise their own in conjunction with the local Pokémon."

And that was sweet little Bianca, with her own fountain of knowledge.

"Very good." Juniper was barely whispered now. "And can you tell me why Watchog and Herdier leave their young by themselves, Black?"

Black thought about it. "Baptism by fire and all that."

The woman sighed. "Not my choice of words but close enough."

He grinned.

A loud screeching noise caught their attention. It was a young Patrat, most likely sounding the alarm for its brethren. It was jumping up and down on its feet as it squeaked and chittered threats at the two of them. Around them, Black could hear the other Patrat in the area fleeing.

It was with a cold shudder that he realized what they were doing. They were leaving this Patrat to fend for itself.

That was how most people caught their Patrat, he remembered. Scouts and sentries made up most of the catches of their kind. Whenever a threat appeared the one who sounded the alarm would be the sacrificial lamb while the rest escaped.

And as he stared at the Patrat fighting with Professor Juniper's Minccino, he felt a veil be lifted from his eyes and ears, and soon enough those squeaks and chitters began to take on new meaning in the theatre of his mind.

_"Flee! Flee! High One! High One! RUN!"_

The amount of fear and rage in that little body was amazing.

And then it was in the ball, undoubtedly struggling to break free of its dimensions. It shook, but soon it stopped, leaving Black wondering if it had just given up so easily.

Juniper frowned and picked up the ball. "He seemed more frightened than your usual Patrat. How peculiar." For some reason, she looked at him, a strange look on her countenance.

Black avoided her gaze. The whole scene was far more intimidating than he had expected, and now he just wanted to get his Pokéballs and head home for the day.

"It's going to be tough, you three," came Juniper's voice, "I will warn you, there are times when you will want to cry or give up. You will both win and lose much on this journey. Victory and prestige are fine goals, but often times the things we do to get there aren't nearly as admirable."

She was speaking from experience he realized. That did nothing to reassure him.

She gave him the Pokéballs and his own Pokédex. "There was a bit of trouble with registering one of your ID's earlier but they should function perfectly now."

With that, she left them with a parting glance. Soon, only he, Cheren, and Bianca were left in the area.

It was already nighttime, Black realized, and while that suddenly didn't mean as much to him as it would yesterday, the teen had promised he would head home one last time before he embarked on his journey.

Suddenly, Cheren released his Tepig. "I'm going to catch some more Pokémon," he said, and then hesitated. "I've been thinking. I don't want to just be a generic trainer. I don't want to just win a couple of badges, or even all the badges. I want to win it all."

Black stared at his friend. "Cheren-"

"Look, I get it. You're worried." Well, the tone certainly deflated his concern. "But I want to do it. I need to do it. I want to storm that damn castle. I want to climb over that wall and lower the drawbridge for the troops."

"Hun, I'm afraid you've lost me." Bianca said as she touched her arm.

Cheren pulled away from Bianca. "It's okay. You'll know soon enough."

"Wha-"

"What about your dad, Bianca?" He asked suddenly and challengingly. "Is he going to let you just leave Nuvema Town, like this?"

Bianca's face became tight. "Daddy and I have an understanding." Her tone brook no argument.

Cheren snorted.

Black decided to intervene. "How about this, you guys? We go home. And tomorrow, we deal with this." Whatever 'this' is, he thought to himself.

His glasses-wearing friend stared at him. "That's just like you, Black."

"What?"

"Nothing. C'mon Tepig. We can make it to the rest center by morning if we leave right now."

His friend left them.

Black was suddenly uncomfortably aware that he was alone with Bianca, in what could reasonably said to be a romantic spot given the stars and full moon. However, before he could say anything Bianca had hugged him and left. Leaving him wondering what the heck was going on between him and his friends.

He walked around after that, unwilling to just stand by himself in the dark. After a while he released Xanatos.

_"Well, aren't you an excitable one,"_ Xanatos said as he uncurled himself. "_I was told you trainers only let us out for battles and feeding time."_

Black shrugged. "I like the company."

_"I can taste lies, and that one tasted worse than Grimer sweat."_

"You know what Grimer sweat tastes like?"

_"You'd be surprised at what you do to survive in the wild."_

"You're a human-raised Pokémon though." Of this, at least, Black was certain.

_"Details."_

Black felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Something was watching them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Xanatos tense up. At least he knew when to be serious.

_"Oh goody, a rat."_ It seemed its mouthiness wouldn't go away though.

Another Patrat appeared out of the bushes. Its red-eyes glowed menacingly in the darkness of the night. That same strange mix of hate and visceral terror was present in this one.

_"High One! High One approaches! Flee! Flee!"_

Oh, it seemed that he and Xanatos had stumbled across another Patrat village perimeter.

_"Ready and willing, trainer." _Came Xanatos' voice, bringing Black's thoughts to a halt.

"Right!"

* * *

In the realm of the forgotten a magnificent beast lay sleeping. It awaited the Return.

It was not a monster. It was not a god. It was worse.

**End Chapter 2**

**Author Note: Teens are just made of awkward, no? Questions, reviews, and whatever else, feel free to leave 'em. I'd ****love any thoughts or concerns on this.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The land remembers the scars.

* * *

When the wind howls, child, it is not because of fear. When the land rumbles, it is not out of anger. And when the sea storms it is not out of envy.

The world is at peace.

But when the sky calms, latch the doors. When the land soothes, rush to your kin. And when the sea tempers, bear your weapons.

The world is at war.

* * *

Reality hiccupped.

Black swore.

Two Pokéballs remained beside the panting form of the Patrat. After the little scout had escaped the first Pokéball, Black was disappointed but not overly affected; now that two were gone, he was annoyed. Pokéball technology was expensive, dammit.

The little rodent was giving its best though. While not nearly as capable as Xanatos, the rat was fighting even after receiving a nasty bump to the back of the head courtesy of some simple trickery on Xanatos' part.

_'Flee...run...High One...here...run...' _The little one wheezed out, trying ever so hard to maintain its previous tempo.

He grimaced. The experience of catching always seemed so much more glamorous when he couldn't understand what they were saying.

Xanatos stomped on its stomach. _'Cute. I don't like cute.' _

"Enough!" Black yelled. That was going way too far.

Xanatos looked sharply at Black, and held his gaze. Black stared back, forcing himself not to blink even as his eyes watered painfully. Eventually the Snivy scoffed, and retreated from the Patrat's form.

_'Soft and simple. I've got quite the winner on my hands.' _There was no derision in the Snivy's tone. Black almost wished there was. It would make the prospect of kicking the callous starter so much more appealing.

Ignoring his partner, Black fished out another Pokéball from the bag Juniper had handed him earlier. He almost couldn't believe that he was using three Pokéballs just to catch a Patrat, but this was his first encounter with a wild Pokémon outside of a properly controlled setting and he wanted to remember it properly.

Well, if anything else, he certainly wasn't going to forget today.

The Patrat visibly shook at the sight of another Pokéball. Black almost gave up then, but he steeled himself for his task.

With a throw and a whirring sound the Patrat had entered the ball. Black awaited the much-anticipated 'ding' anxiously, as he stared at the ball. Soon enough, the sound came, and still the teen stared.

That was it? He thought. How anticlimactic.

He picked it up and tossed the ball between his hands for a bit before he latched it onto his belt. It felt strangely light.

He looked at his Xtransciever, and noted that it was already past 7 o' clock. Not particularly late, but Cheren was going to be in for a hell of a long walk if he only planned on stopping at the rest center between Nuvema Town and Accumula City.

Bianca was probably going to spend the night out here, he realized. Now that she was a trainer, well, it wasn't like she lacked a reason to stay outside in the dead of night now. Or motivation, a voice whispered nastily in his head.

But right now, Black wanted nothing more than to sleep in his bed.

"Come on," He called to his observing starter, "I promised my mother I'd visit before I left home." Not to mention, I still have to pick up my stuff there, he thought.

The night air was, in contrast to the past couple of weeks back in Nuvema Town, unbearably humid and hot. If Black weren't within spitting distance of the town boundary, he'd be wondering if he'd stepped through a wormhole and ended up in one of Sinnoh's infamous bogs.

The wood around them was unusually silent; something that Black tried to pretend did not bother him. Aside from the usual wind whistling of the forest, which he had grown up with all his life, the distinct lack of Pokémon was unnerving.

Just knowing they were out there, hidden and possibly watching him was strange in Black's opinion. He wondered how those people who started their journeys in the more hostile areas dealt with the tension. Intellectually, he knew that the worst thing in the immediate area was likely some wannabe' walking taffy (ie: Audino). He didn't know how he'd deal if he knew there were Beartic around his first night out.

Xanatos, on the other hand, was preening and sighing happily to itself as they walked home.

_'Let the runt out, trainer. I wanna' apologize to the kid.'_

Black scoffed. "After that crap you pulled back there, I can definitely say the last thing Inspector needs is to go tête-à-tête with you again."

_'Inspector?'_ Xanatos said. There was a knowing glint in the snake's eye._ 'How quaint.'_

Black ignored him, still a little angry with Xanatos for his stunt.

But it seemed that Xanatos wasn't willing to be ignored.

_'Tell me trainer, did you understand everything back there?'_ the Snivy asked in an offhand manner. _'Did you hear every word our dear little Inspector uttered during his incredible display of valor and bravado?'_

Black grit his teeth. He wondered if it was too late to return the starter. "Yes."

_'And yet, you still persisted in_ catching _him. Huh.' _

Xanatos vanished as he was returned to his ball, his sibilant laughter tinkling in the air.

Black pressed on.

* * *

He got home late that night.

His mother was up waiting, watching TV. She said she wasn't really worried about him, that she had faith in his abilities, that she knew all those years with the Professor person weren't wasted. She said that. The worry lines and the kiss on his forehead that went on slightly longer than usual said otherwise.

He dreamt of adventure that night. Lights and colors, words and feelings, all jumbled up into some huge pot of metaphysical gumbo that left him feeling more sick than excited. And of course, there was that tantalizing tint of blonde just around the corner...

There was sunlight right on his face.

Black said a string of words that he had no business knowing (especially since he certainly didn't learn them from his mother).

A moment passed, and soon enough the blonde faded from his memory as he tried to recall something important.

He was a trainer now. Had been since yesterday morning. Oh.

Black reached for his Pokéballs on his desk. It already didn't feel right not having them on his person.

There was a wheedling sensation in the back of his head as he got dressed and packed his traveler's kit; something that insisted he pay attention to it. Instead, Black just dismissed the notion entirely.

His thoughts turned to his friends. Though Cheren was more than likely putting even more distance between him and Nuvema Town, Black wasn't too worried about catching up to him. And Bianca was almost certainly back in Nuvema by now for her own supplies.

And there she was now. From his own window, he spotted Bianca walking out of her house, her travel sack on her back. She was looking around shiftily, and even from this distance, he could see that her eyes were puffy and red.

Her father, he concluded. So much for that agreement.

Black watched his friend in silence as she made her way down the street, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands. A guilty feeling settled into his stomach. He knew he shouldn't be watching this.

Suddenly, there came a knocking from his door, ripping his eyes away from his best friend.

"Mrs. Cavan called, she said Cheren forgot his X-transciever in his room." His mum said from the other side, "Would you mind going over and picking it up so you can give it to him later? She said he just left a note, and she has no clue where he's headed."

Black groaned. He wanted to say no, he really did, but Mrs. Cavan was a decrepit old Omanyte, and she looked like one too. She would rather keel over than admit she didn't know where one of her kids went, and would often hit people who walked too slowly along the sidewalk with her walking stick. She wouldn't ask for help if she didn't need it.

With a new goal for the day in mind, Black renewed his efforts to stuff his sleeping bag inside his pack.

And then, from there, it would be off to Silver Wing Orphanage.

* * *

Traveling along the route in the day was vastly different to nighttime. For one thing, Black didn't feel as if there was a blade resting against the base of his neck, for another, Xanatos seemed more content to simply bask in the sunlight than shoot his mouth off.

Truthfully, Black didn't know why he kept letting Xanatos out of his ball. Perhaps he was simply lonely, and liked the company, or perhaps the conniving little demon had hypnotized him somehow during one of their staring contests. Either way, it seemed like Xanatos was going to be a permanent fixture for the foreseeable future.

He departure had been a simple affair. After silently nodding in the right places, adding a bit of grunting to shake things up, he had satisfied his mother with his incredible vernacular and left home. He was a little dissatisfied that the occasion passed with practically no fanfare, but that was likely the part of him that used to want a parade every time he tied his shoes correctly.

He had greeted Mrs. Cavan outside of Silver Wing Orphanage's gates, a fact that he was immensely grateful for. The old lady probably knew of his aversion to her home, and the kids under her care, and she was more than eager to oblige his desires. Not the least because she really didn't like him all that much in return and didn't want him under her roof.

So he grabbed the X-transciever, said 'Hi', and walked off, pointedly ignoring the curious looks he got from the children in the building.

It was mid-afternoon now, that ineffable time-space when it was too late for lunch and too early for dinner, but just perfect for an appetizing meal that wasn't dehydrated rations and snacks.

He stopped beside a beach, choosing to observe the sandy shores and the waves from his vantage point atop a hill. Xanatos just laid down on a rock, belly-down. Black could practically hear the contented sigh that emanated from his partner's relaxed body.

After a moment or two, he decided there was no more use in putting off the inevitable and released Inspector.

Inspector materialized from the Pokéball standing at attention, his form mimicking his evolved form's classic pose. It was difficult to point out whether it was from fear or instinct, seeing as there was an equal amount of both in its body, clearly obvious to any keen observer.

Black fished out some food, and began the arduous task of proving to his Pokémon that he wasn't that much of a bastard.

"Here you go, Inspector." Black smiled gently as he edged the food closer.

Inspector, if it was even possible, seemed to stand up even straighter.

_'Ins...pec...tor? High One...'_

Black frowned before he quickly covered it up. He assumed High One referred to humans. So, it would seem Xanatos was exceptionally smart, or Patrat clearly had trouble with communication outside of warning and threats.

A rustle to the side caught his attention. And Black smirked, feeling more than a little excited at the thought of another potential catch. This time, he vowed he would avoid excessive attacking just for the sake of making the catch easier.

Of course, he only had two Pokéballs left...

The offending Pokémon rushing out of the bushes quickly solved his musings. Black identified it as a Lillipup, though one that definitely had been around for a while judging by the slightest white on its grizzled muzzle. It looked angry, it looked...disgusted?

_'The Taking is done!'_ The little Lillipup yelled. Its little body was poised and ready, though Black was not sure for what. _'The Taking is done!'_

Leave, came the unspoken request.

The teen shrugged. He wasn't feeling particularly charitable, especially towards stray wild Pokémon, but there was suddenly a sense of urgency in the environment that had not been there before. That vague sense of being watched returned in full force.

_'I've got this one, trainer.'_ Xanatos said as he moved from his place on the rock. Inspector let out a small chitter as he recognized his former attacker. _'Let the runt have it easy for a bit. You'll be sending him to the slaughter soon enough.'_

But before any Black could formulate any sort of response to that statement, the Lillipup attacked. He ran past Xanatos, and Black, and rammed straight into Inspector. The young Patrat fell to the ground, momentarily losing his breath.

_'You are done! DONE!'_ Came the cry. The Lillipup turned to Black. _'Boy, you will-'_

And the next thing the Puppy Pokémon knew Xanatos was already wrapped around his neck, his own slender body encircling everything about the dog.

_'Shhhhhhh...there, there, now,'_ Xanatos whispered gently into the Lillipup's ear. '_That wasn't very...nice. How about you take a nap?'_

The Lillipup struggled, Black could see. He fought and wrangled every way and angle possible in an effort to dislodge Xanatos, but it just tired him out all the quicker. It wouldn't matter though, because within seconds the Lillipup had already slumped off into unconscious.

_'Blood choke.'_ Xanatos said, by way of an explanation. _'It was more or less instinctual at this point, but you don't have to worry. I'm no killer, I assure you.'_

"Right." Just go with it, Black told himself. Never mind that Xanatos was the scariest thing he'd ever met in his life.

Inspector was back on his feet. And staring at the prone body of the Lillipup. Xanatos walked up to it and cuffed it on the shoulder.

_'Next time, you hit back.'_

Inspector nodded after a second. And then, in a fit of recklessness Black was sure implied suicidal tendencies, Inspector tried to use Bite on Xanatos.

_'Next time, I step on you.'_ Came the soft voice that Black was beginning to recognize as Inspector's when he wasn't in a panic.

It took Black a moment to realize that Xanatos was smirking.

* * *

He reached Accumula Town the next day. He had reached the rest center in the early evening and had decided that he was not yet ready to spend a night in the outdoors just yet. The rest center was not a Pokémon Center tailored specifically for Leaugue-sponsored trainers, and this one had no healing facilities there to take his Pokémon for a checkup.

He did however, stock up on essentials. Once again, none of his debit cards worked so he was forced to use the last of his on-hand cash. He made a note to himself to head to a bank as soon as possible to solve that issue.

The journey to and from the rest center was filled with battles against wild Pokémon. Aside from that Lillipup by the beach though, none of them were quite as aggressive or as talkative aside from all the Patrats' warnings to their brethren.

Inspector was still hesitant around Black, but he was pleased to note that at least he wasn't acting like he was going to sic Xanatos on him for any little thing.

The teen had decided to hold off on catching any more Pokémon. This decision was largely influenced by his apparent newfound ability to communicate with Pokémon. He already had enough trouble with two, he wasn't particularly sure he wanted to add a third member that would be just as green to the training thing as the other two.

That, and as much as he didn't want to admit it, Xanatos had been right. He had taken it too far in his pursuit of Inspector.

It was close to noon when he reached Accumula Town's gate. Xanatos and Inspector were following alongside him as he walked through town in search of the Pokémon Center. He had caught sight of Cheren's head somewhere around the town plaza, but Black wanted his Pokémon to be in shape in case Cheren challenged him to a rematch.

He explained all of this to Inspector, who hadn't ever breached this far into a human civilization.

_'Why, fight?'_ The Patrat asked as he warily observed a Herdier on a leash pass by. _'Cheren...safe?'_

That was one thing that Black quickly took note of in his conversations with Inspector. Patrat had no concept of 'friends'. There was family, and not-family. Safe, or unsafe. It was horribly depressing, in Black's opinion.

"Cheren...Cheren's family, I guess," Black answered awkwardly. He'd forever deny it if the boy was ever around though. "But he's difficult. He wants to be the best. Hell, he always has been the best. But no one besides me and Bianca could ever compete with him in anything."

Besides them, Xanatos let out a laugh. _'Until you met me, of course.'_

"Yes," Black offered dryly. "Of course."

Inspector seemed confused but satisfied with the answer though, and went back to observing everything. It seemed that his eyes widened ever more as he spotted newer and more different things.

_'And you, High One? What you want?'_

Black considered his answer.

He didn't want to be the Champion. He didn't want, nor did he need, the heartache and suffering that came with the position. It was well-known that the current Champion Alder had trained and trained to the point he had become a hermit just to reach his current level of skill, and there were even rumors that something had happened to his starter Pokémon when the League had bestowed him with the title.

And that was after ten years of straight training, or so the rumors went.

"I -"

"Excuse me?"

Black turned, all thoughts of what he wanted washing away down the gentle river of Lethe. There was a boy about his age looking at him from an alleyway.

He had bright-green hair. Weird.

"Yeah?" Black said as he stopped to face the stranger. His Pokémon stopped alongside him.

The boy's eyes flicked to his Pokémon and back. Black could have sworn he saw something else in his eyes, but it was gone before he knew it.

"I'm looking for the Pokémon Center," The boy said as he walked out from the alley, and the part of Black used to store esoteric knowledge recognized a Menger sponge hanging from his belt. "Could you direct me to where it is?"

Black shrugged. "If you want, you can follow me. I'm looking for it myself."

The boy looked pensive. "Ah. I see."

A moment passed by, and Black took it to observe the stranger more. He didn't seem overly threatening, or even a trainer, now that he thought about it. In fact, once you got past the green-hair and the strange keychain, the boy looked a little bit scared too.

"Very well. I shall follow. May I know your name?" The boy queried.

Annoyance popped up, but Black suppressed it. The boy was rather rude though. "My name's Black," he said curtly.

Well, no one ever said he was a paragon of manners either.

"Black," the boy said tentatively, giving him an odd look. Black was used to it. Not many people walking around with colors for names, after all. "And what are the names of your...friends?"

Black's brows furrowed as he tried to figure the boy out. No one ever asked about other people's Pokémon. No one normal, at least.

Black introduced them at the same time as they spoke for themselves.

_'Xanatos, at your service fellow green one.'_

_'Ins...pec...tor.' _

The green-haired boy looked at Black with shock. He idly wondered if he heard those two talking. But before he could ask what was wrong the green-haired boy smiled warmly at them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Natural, but you may call me N."

Black smiled, even as dread crept up his spine.

* * *

"I'm sorry, could you say that again?" He asked incredulously.

The nurse looked over her clipboard at him. "The emergency recall system on your Pokéballs. They're active, but they don't have your genetic signature registered."

Black nodded matter-of-factly, "Right. What does that mean though?"

The nurse's expression soured, and Black resisted the urge to compare her to a Snubbull. "It means that you're very lucky we've caught the issue so soon. The emergency recall system is the last and most effective safeguard against Reaper Games."

"'What' games?"

"Battles to death of Pokemon, otherwise called Reaper Game's." The nurse explained patiently, still with that pinched-up lemon face.

He felt queasy. "Oh."

Suddenly he had a thought.

"How does it work? The Pokéball thing?" He asked, half-kicking himself for forgetting something so important from Juniper's lectures.

"As you should know, Pokéball technology is powered by bioelectricity. Not a lot, fortunately, otherwise we'd still be walking around with our own Plusle and Minun batteries.

However, since the concept of a ball the size of a human palm containing powerful creatures like Pokémon, was so inherently appealing to thieves and criminals, the League, in conjunction with the other regions, decided to employ a genetic lock on the Pokéballs. Nothing much, just enough to ensure nobody who tried to steal a Gym Pokemon would get away with anything.

In addition, to stop all the senseless killing happening as a result of the League challenge," and here her voice went up an octave, and Black instantly knew that she despised anyone taking the challenge, "an emergency recall system was installed. The system monitors the vitals of the Pokémon, and makes sure that they don't suddenly die in battle. If their vitals drop into what can be classified as the danger zone, then the Pokéball immediately returns the Pokémon and puts it into a temporary stasis.

Of course, this depletes all the energy in the Pokéball. It would only have enough for the Pokemon to be released once more after that, and would appropriately lock itself to prevent any human signature from releasing it unless at a qualified League healing facility."

Black took all of this in as he pondered this. "What about near instantaneous attacks like Sheer Cold or Guillotine?" He asked, feeling much like a student back at the Lab.

The nurse sighed. "The technology is sufficiently advanced to prevent even near beheading, and some actual cases of it."

He visibly shuddered. He couldn't imagine living a healthy life after having his head nearly beheaded, even if everything was put back properly and there were no scars.

Medicine was scary stuff, he thought to himself.

"What are Reaper Games, then?" The phrase was vaguely familiar but all he could glean from his memory was a very angry look on Professor Juniper's face.

The same look on the nurse's face now, actually. "Barbaric relics of a bygone era. Gladiatorial matches between Pokémon, all with their trainers perfectly aware of what is at stake. They hack their Pokéballs and deactivate the E.R.S, making sure that their Pokémon truly give it everything they have for the sake of victory."

Right, Black thought to himself, time to back away from the nice nurse.

"You're lucky you started only yesterday, young man. If you had more than three months experience or two badges to your name I'd have notified the authorities first."

The way she said that, Black knew it was the truth.

After switching his Pokéballs to one of their prepared replacements, Black walked out of the room and headed to the lobby.

"Black!" N called cheerfully as he saw the teen approach, "That was a while. Is everything alright?"

There was genuine concern in N's voice, and Black stony visage couldn't help but melt at the boy's concern. He was a good guy, if a little weird.

"Yeah, yeah." Black waved him off. No need to offend N's ears with his news about Reaper Games and such. "Did you find someplace to eat?"

N nodded happily. "Yes, there's a place nearby that services trainer's for free."

Black eyed his new companion. "You're a trainer?"

The other boy smiled mysteriously. "Not quite. But I do have money though." He pulled something out of his pocket. "Do you think this is enough?"

If there were a drink nearby at that moment, Black was certain he would have taken a sip, if only to do a spit-take at the wad of pure green in N's hands.

**End Chapter 3**

**Author Note: N has been the best antagonist of the main series Pokémon games. In a world where abuse of such powerful creatures is not only possibly but also very likely, N would come off as rallying voice of reason. People would follow N not because they're crooks or criminals looking to gather one big boss, but because they believe in him and his wish. And that is _dangerous._**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Silent skies.

* * *

There was a fantastic toymaker, who lived under the mountain. One day, this toymaker made himself a wife from a tree of the Celebi Wood.

But the wife despaired of ever having a son, for she was wooden. Not to worry, her husband said. I will make us a son.

The Celebi Wood denied him entrance. Angered, the toymaker traveled to the Groudon domain, and pleaded with the monster to help him in his cause. Groudon agreed, because Groudon did not like Celebi and he was an impulsive creature.

The Wood burned. The toymaker recovered a tree. The toymaker made a son from that tree.

And now the son found himself in want. What do you want, my son, asked the toymaker. Make me a monster, said his son. Make me the biggest and strongest monster in the world.

And the toymaker nodded.

There was no need for the Celebi Wood this time. The toymaker withdrew to his workshop for days.

When he emerged, the toymaker presented his son with not one, but two monsters. Pick one, my son. The other shall be firewood.

But the son grabbed them both, cut them in half and stuck two halves together. It was said the toys screamed as their other halves burned in the fires of creation that night.

* * *

Black didn't know whether he liked N or not. One the one hand, he was a genuinely kind individual who was very polite, while on the other he seemed to have an unnerving fascination with Black's own Pokemon. The boy certainly didn't seem to notice the conflict in his voluntary minder's attitude, instead preferring to pet the Purrloin that had literally jumped into his arms from out of nowhere.

One minute they were walking by an alleyway, and the next a small purple blur leaps into N's arms. It was somewhat surreal to see a wild Pokemon act so domesticated all of a sudden, but since the past few days had had their fair share of surreal, Black just shook his head and kept on walking.

Dinner with N had been a quiet affair, with the green-haired boy just intently staring at Xanatos, who had been eating beside them on the ground. If Black weren't confident he could take him in a fight (N couldn't possibly be more than twelve years old), he'd be worried about the kid stealing his starter. They had paid with but a fraction of the wad of cash that N mysteriously had on him, and left as soon as possible, lest they attract the attention of any unsavory clientele with that money.

And now they were walking back to the Pokemon Center. Black wasn't sure why N was following him, considering the boy wasn't a trainer (and hadn't really done anything at the Center the last time he visited). "You can keep the money by the way, I have no-"

"Alright, this is where I leave you," Black interrupted. "You got your own place to go to."

It was not a question. It was about as blunt a hint as Black could make without explicitly telling the boy to bugger off.

"Oh? Really? You sleep here?" N seemed disappointed for some reason. "Oh well, I guess I'll find my dad now. It was nice meeting you, Black."

N held his hand out and Black shook it. It all seemed a bit silly and awkward to him; he'd never really shaken hands with anyone except with Professor Juniper's professional associates when they came to visit.

Unsurprisingly, N crouched down to eye level with Xanatos and did the same thing.

"And it was nice meeting you too, Xanatos," N said, bright smile lighting up the kid's face.

Xanatos, for his part, didn't bother shaking hands. He just nodded and said, _"Later weirdo."_

Natural didn't show any signs of understanding Xanatos, for which Black was grateful. He didn't want the kid to get upset, dotty as he might be.

With one final wave good-bye, N left, with the wild Purrloin dogging his footsteps like a faithful pet. Black had considered catching the Pokemon, but that would have been rude to N, who had quite enjoyed the cat's company in his arms. Besides, those things were everywhere around these parts. He'd undoubtedly find another one eventually.

He entered the Pokemon Center, and headed over to the public computer stations. He thought of checking with the Pokemon Center staff to see if Cheren had checked in for the night, but Black wasn't feeling up to inevitable battle that would ensue from their encounter. And any sort of conversation over the videophone with Bianca generally ended in hours of babbling on her part, and hours of mumbling and agreeing on his. So instead, he ended up accessing his bank account online, if only to clear up the mistakes with his money.

Or at least he tried. After at least an hour of refreshing and inspecting the bank's website and being put on hold several times by the 24-hour customer service, Black gave up and decided to call it a night.

_"Money troubles?"_ Xanatos said as Black walked through the door to their room. The condescension in his voice was clear.

"None of your business." Black ground out.

The Snivy shrugged. _"You're right. I'm just a Pokemon. What do I care if my pet trainer runs out of money to get me and my compadre-"_ and here he gestured to Inspectors Pokeball, _"our not-totally-essential food?"_

"You're a Pokemon, you'll deal. Hunt for it or something."

_"Really, now? And I'm sure that as a human you'll deal very well when traveling by yourself all through the wild while we're 'hunting'. Can I have your hat when you're gone?"_

"No. Now be quiet." Black said as he stretched out on the bed with his pillow over his head. "I've got a headache."

_"Tch! You don't talk much for a human do you?"_ Xanatos seemed annoyed with him now. Fantastic.

Black's response was a half-hearted rude hand gesture.

_"...You know I don't actually know what that means right?"_

He removed the pillow, and looked at his starter. There was genuine confusion on the grass-type's face, insofar as Black could understand Xanatos' facial expressions. "You're serious."

_"Yes. I am. What is it?"_

The teen debated the pros and cons of explaining the significance behind the physical gesture, and then decided to just go with it. Even if today had been a weird enough day already, he might as well keep going with what worked. Tomorrow he'd find Cheren, give him the Xtransciever, most likely get trashed in their rematch, and then head out to Striaton.

* * *

Or rather, Black would head out to Striaton first, because Cheren was one of those unholy spawns of Heatran that actually liked getting up early in the morning. He kept swearing at himself for forgetting this. The other boy had always liked starting and finishing first on all his assigned tasks back with Professor Juniper, and he'd always been the most energetic out of their trio during the morning physical exercises they had to go through.

When he had checked with the information desk about Cheren's whereabouts they said that Cheren actually had stayed the night at the Center, but he had left sometime around five that morning. Black had woken up at ten, and the first string of words out of his mouth after finding out about Cheren's departure had not been kindly towards the other boy's character or his manhood.

This had prompted Black to run back to his room and roughly grab Xanatos by the tail (the little snake was surprisingly light), and dash back out. He was inordinately pleased to hear his Pokemon start cussing him out and swearing to turn his bones to ash for waking him up at this ungodly early hour.

He did not spend much time dawdling in Accumula after that. N had been generous enough to tell Black to keep the change from the restaurant, so he now had a little bit left for supplies. That boy truly did not know the value of money considering how much had been left over. Black wasn't going to deny freely given cash either.

Fortunately, after the merger between all the various Pokemon product corporations with the League, each Pokemon Center was stocked with the vital items for trainers and officials. Water, rations, med kits, and even a few pricy sleeping bags, all available to any trainer unlucky enough to run out or lose such things. After a quick gathering of rations and almost instinctively grabbing a flare for emergencies, Black went to the cashier hoping to avoid using N's money...

...only for his card to once again be rejected. Already half expecting this, Black didn't waste any time and instead just reached for his wallet and put down most of the money he had left on the counter.

After leaving the store, Black decided that he had had enough of Xanatos taunting him about being a pauper, and had just returned the little snake to his Pokeball. In return, he let out Inspector, who still remained as alert as ever, though he did visibly relax upon seeing Black.

As he left through the city gates, Black's thoughts turned to his supplies. He now had enough for around a week or so, but after that they would be risking really roughing it if he didn't get some way to pay for stuff soon. He made a note to find his bank's branch in Striaton City after he met with Cheren and get a replacement card. He definitely had enough in his account to help keep him afloat for a while, at least until he had a few more battles and badges to his name.

Which reminded him that he still hadn't really used Inspector for anything yet. Black looked at the little Patrat, who was now cautiously exploring the flora along the side of the road. Soon enough the pavement would become dirt and then become forest altogether. They were going the less civilized path, but it was definitely the shorter one, and it was the path Black would put good money on that Cheren had taken. He found it interesting even how this was still considered Route 1, despite Inspector's unfamiliarity with their surroundings.

Regardless though, now was as good a time as any for Black to start the young one's training. If he recalled correctly the first Gym was set up as a sort of hazing test for new trainers. They would find out what your starter Pokemon is through your Pokedex, and then they would select from their pool of gym Pokemon which ones were to face you based on type advantage. As such, the first gym was a bit controversial with traditionalists in that they didn't specialize in just one type.

Black personally thought it was brilliant. It got rid of the truly stupid trainers and discouraged those who relied on just their starters from rolling through the region. That used to be a common practice in the beginning of the Gym system, up until the Gym Leaders started bringing in their own personal Pokemon team to matches, effectively crushing that movement before it even started.

"Inspector? Come over here." Black called to the little rodent. "It's time we got some training in."

Speak of Darkrai, and he shall appear. Inspector, instead of coming over to Black, went into red alert mode, instantly snapping and angrily squeaking at something in the bushes.

_"Flee! Flee! Enemy is here! Flee!" _Inspector squeaked. Black sighed. He knew that Pokemon were much more instinctual creatures than humans, but he had thought that after having been captured the Patrat wouldn't revert to his pack mentality when faced with a foe. None of the books he ever read said anything about this crap happening.

"Inspector!" Black called out, trying his best to sound as commanding as possible. "Back away from the bushes. Don't infringe on its turf like that. Let whatever it is come to us!" One of the first things Juniper had taught them. When engaging a wild Pokemon, always be aware that they have the home field advantage.

However, all he got from his Patrat was a bemused look that just left the little rodent more exposed than anything else. _"Umm...what?"_

And as if that thought triggered it, a wild Lillipup rammed Inspector from behind, sending him tumbling forward.

Right, he forgot. Wild Pokemon don't exactly play fair either.

* * *

"Booyah." Black said as the Pokeball finally gave the signature 'ding' of a successful capture. And then he vowed to never say that word again out loud. How embarrassing.

_"Boo...yah?"_ Inspector said, testing the word out in his weird squeak-tongue. Black dutifully ignored the overwhelming urge to think too hard on the subject of talking Pokemon.

"Errr...it means 'I'm aweso'- okay, okay, I see you don't know what that means either."

Inspector's furry face was intense with confusion.

"It means 'I'm strong'." Black explained awkwardly, "Which really means that you're the strong one. So...yeah."

Inspector's head just tilted to the side, as if trying to look at the word from a different perspective. After a second of thought, the Patrat grinned, showing off all his shiny sharp (and yellow, Black couldn't help but notice) teeth. _"Booyah._"

Right. That may have been a mistake.

Back to business then. He had a somewhat injured Patrat and a definitely injured Lillipup to take care of. He reached into his bag and retrieved the potion tablets and the spray bottle.

"You take a rest," Black said to Inspector as he sat down on the grass to the side of the road. Then he retrieved Xanatos' Pokeball. "You get out too, you grungy lizard."

_"Rude, simple, and stupid. I definitely got the pick of the litter right here."_ Xanatos' voice was devoid of any heat or hurt, leaving Black to think it was just one of his usual mannerisms. The Snivy walked over to where Black was and laid down next to him in the sun. _"What're you doing, my dear pet trainer?"_

"I'm fixin' up some potion to help Inspector and Silver. They aren't too bad but I don't want to risk their injuries getting worse." Black muttered as he eyed the color of the mixture. Potion tablets were much more economical than the old potion bottles that took up so much space, but they downside was that they had to be prepared by the trainer.

_"Potion? Silver? Well damn! If you weren't mine, trainer, I'd actually be impressed that you caught another minion so soon. As it is, this is just satisfactory."_

Black reached over and flicked the Snivy on the nose without taking his eyes off the mixture.

_"What are you looking at, kid?"_ Black heard Xanatos say, addressing the rather proud rodent next to him.

Inspector puffed up his chest, and smiled toothily once more. _"Booyah."_

Black heard Xanatos snort, and he only hoped that the grass snake wouldn't notice the embarrassed flush on his cheeks. _"Congratulations. You learned a new word. Rather stupid one, in my opinion and -"_

Xanatos went quiet. Inspector tensed up

"Hey, you alri-"

_"Shut up, trainer." _Xanatos literally hissed. _"We're being hunted. Put that away."_

Black raised an eyebrow at that, but he dutifully did as instructed. While it was extremely rare for wild Pokemon to go after people (usually because League retaliation was brutal and excessive), it was not unheard of. Every trainer worth their salt was instructed on how to handle wild Pokemon attacks. Unfortunately those instructions essentially boiled down to 'Wing it'.

Something rustled in the plants behind them. Black froze. Well shit, he'd been hoping that Xanatos was just messing with him. He quickly began reviewing in his mind what kind of Pokemon lived in the area. Only one sprang to mind and it had the teen cursing his own luck.

Herdier were hunters by nature. While for the most part they were docile and even friendly with humans, they had fangs for a reason. And feral Herdier were dangerous things. They could get close to humans feigning benevolence (because after all, they're just cute little puppies) and then strike at them when they're right up close.

Fortunately, they weren't taking that approach. Unfortunately, the reason they weren't taking that approach was likely because they didn't feel the need to be sneaky about it.

"Inspector, return." Black said, aiming the Pokeball at the intended Pokemon.

_"What're you doing that for?"_ Xanatos said as he scanned the area around them vigorously. _"You want to make it easier for them to catch us? Bring him out again, we nee-"_

"These are Herdier around us." Black snapped at him, "Inspector just barely got done with one Lillipup, and you want to throw him to them?"

_"I can't take 'em all on myself either though. Amazing as I am, I'm not strong enough for that."_

"Not planning on it."

_"Then what do you suggest we do?"_

Black could hear the thunder of his own heartbeat now. This was going to suck so much. He just hoped Professor Juniper could forgive him if she ever heard of this. "Hold on to me."

Xanatos paused in his sentry motions for a moment, and looked at him. Now was not the time for contemplating, Black wanted to say but before he could voice it the snake nodded and jumped onto his back. The action caused a sort of scuffling sound to come from the bushes. _"I'm trusting you with my life, trainer."_

"Funny, I thought it was supposed to be the other way around." Black muttered to himself before he broke out into a sprint.

This was one of the worst things he could have done. Professor Juniper had even made him interview a survivor of a mauling by a Beartic just to see why running is a bad idea. Running was key to establishing predator-prey relationship between the trainer and his attackers.

It was practically asking for the Herdier to pursue him, something that the canine Pokemon gladly obliged with. Black could hear them chasing him; they were following alongside the path, undoubtedly already having blocked off any escape routes to the sides.

That was fine with him. The Herdiers may know the lay of the land better than he did his own room, but that didn't mean Black was going in blind either. He used to stare at maps all day when he was younger, plotting what routes and paths he would take when he became a trainer. It wasn't photographic memory but it was enough for Black to know there was something nearby that just might save his ass.

The pavement was turning to dirt road now, making his path uneven. Black took in a deep breath of air and redoubled his efforts, wincing as that painfully familiar stitching sensation started. Another reason no one tried to outrun a wild Pokemon? Humans on the whole were in just damn worse shape than them. Granted Black had passed the physical requirements exam a few weeks back, but these were creatures that had been hunting since before the Great Storm. It took serious constant training for people to keep up with wild Pokemon.

When he was reasonably sure that he was well and deep into the forest Black spun on a dime and ran into the underbrush on his left.

"Reach into my pack," Black said as he ducked and rolled underneath a particularly low branch, "There should be a small blue canister in the left pocket."

He felt Xanatos, who was holding on to his neck, rummage around in his pack. _"Got it. What do you- gah! This reeks!"_

Despite the situation, Black smirked. That quickly went away as he heard the Herdier following him begin to snarl and growl. He ignored the wild Pokemon's guttural voices and what they were saying. He didn't imagine it'd sound any more pleasant if he understood it. He leapt over an almost hidden ditch in the ground, stumbled for a bit and kept going.

He looked up at the sky, and caught the position of the sun through the foliage. He was still heading in roughly the right direction. Dodging around a large oak Black reached behind and grabbed the canister from Xanatos. He slammed the canister against a few passing trees. Once he heard the signature hiss of a decompressing spray, he threw it behind him.

Xanatos started coughing. _"Dammit trainer! My mouth! Crap...ack, it's in my eyes!" _

Black could hear similar cries from behind and around him. Herdier definitely had the advantage over him when it came to their speed, sense of smell, and sight, but that had been a canister of heavy duty repellant right there, meant to burn at the eyes, overpower the nose, and irritate the throat and lungs when inhaled in large quantities. It was meant to be used in moderation, so as to not affect surrounding Pokemon too much, just warn them away.

Already he could hear the yelps and yips of the affected Herdier, slowing down in their pursuit until they stopped altogether. The repellant was meant to last for days, and he'd just used it all up at once. This area likely wasn't going to be very Pokemon-friendly for a while.

_"I hate you, you bastard," _Xanatos hacked and coughed. _"You're a maniac, I swear. I can't taste anything anymore."_

His voice was scratchy and raw, having been so close to the repellant. Black honestly felt sorry, but at least he hadn't received the main dosage like their hunters.

Before he could even formulate a reply however, a Herdier that had evaded the majority of the gas leapt up onto his back. Black fell face forward, and Xanatos flew off, the shock having loosened his grip. The Herdier held on tight, his claws digging through his clothes into his back.

Black started scrambling to get back on his feet. If one Herdier dodged the trap, then that meant another one could have too.

Canine teeth came down hard on his collarbone, and he screamed out in pain as he felt it clamp with enormous strength. A Herdier's jaw strength was not as strong as a Feraligator's, but it was more than enough to pierce flesh and break some bones if done properly.

Black tried to shake off his attacker, only for him to feel the dog hold on tighter with his jaw, which only gave the teen an entirely new appreciation for the word agony. The Herdier was snarling in his ear, grunting and rumbling threats that didn't make any sense and only fueled his hatred for the damn things.

Picking a tree, Black ran at it, powering through the white-hot haze clouding his nerves. He spun around at the last second, and rammed his back into the trunk. It hurt, but the relief and the yelp of pain he got from the Herdier was more than worth it.

Not wasting any time, Black spotted Xanatos heading over to him. He picked up the little grass-type in his arms, winced at the pain shooting through his shoulder at the motion, and resumed heading in his original direction. He privately wondered why the hell he just didn't return the damn thing to its ball already.

_"You're bleeding trainer,"_ said Xanatos, a darkly serious tone to his voice. _"And they're catching up again. Your little trick was smart, but you can't outpace them as you are."_

"Don't need to," Black grunted as he vaulted over more bushes. His face stung. By now his face was probably full of scratches from the forest branches. "There's a river nearby. That's usually a territory border between packs of Herdier. You're going to use Vine Whip to get us across."

_"That's stupid,"_ The Snivy told him bluntly._ "You weigh at least ten of me."_

"Then I guess I'm putting my life in your hands now aren't I?" Black snapped at the Pokemon, strangely shutting it up. He should not have to be dealing with this shit in his first week of being a trainer, and the prickly Pokemon was not helping matters. "I'll swim or something. But somehow, we are getting across that river. And so help me I will have Basculin for dinner tonight if they even think about messing with me."

Black checked the sun's position. He had never been particularly good at navigating without any tools but even he could use it to figure out the four cardinal directions.

_"...I can smell water."_ Xanatos said from his perch on his other shoulder all of a sudden. _"Angle to the right a bit more, it's coming from there."_

Part of Black wanted to mulishly keep going his way and ignore the snippy snake, but he didn't want to chance another encounter with the Herdier he barely got away from. Besides, they must be really close if the grass-type could smell it even through the sense-destroying cloud of the Max Repel.

So it was that after turning a bit more west than Black originally intended, that they came upon the riverbank. The river was maybe twenty feet wide, and not particularly deep. The current was fortunately sedate; it'd be problematic if it had been the rainy season. The water was clear enough for him to see the shadows of the Basculin common to all the water sources of Unova.

The image was practically idyllic in how peaceful it looked compared to the forest from not even seconds ago. The transition was so jarring that Black had to take a knee, just to process everything. After a few breaths he stood up and continued surveying his surroundings.

There was no bridge in sight neither upstream or down, not that he had been counting on it. Unova was very developed in the single bits of civilization it had populating the region, but the forests and mountainous areas were still left intact for the most part. Regardless, this meant no clear way across the river, especially with the number of Basculin in the water. Damn things were everywhere around here.

He had been exaggerating about swimming across the river earlier. He was about as mobile as a Gigalith in water. Something which Juniper had been kind enough to 'forget about' when filling out the paperwork with the Pokemon League.

Not to mention there was also the slim possibility of there being more wild Pokemon on the other side willing to have him for tonight's dinner.

Alright, so the plan had to be modified then. Rivers were generally a good lead to civilization, Black remembered. If there were rest stops anywhere along a route, then usually it would be near a water source.

A sharp pain in his gut told him he wouldn't be able to run much longer. As fit as trainers generally had to be for their lifestyle of choice, they generally didn't have to escape and fight off Herdiers. Not to mention his left trapezius was really starting to hurt now.

Before he could think further, he was alerted to the sound of snarling. He turned around, only to see one of his recovered pursuers slowly walk out from the trees.

Well. Shit.

There was only one though. Judging by the dark matted fur on its snout, Black had to say it was the one to taste-test his collarbone just a while ago.

_"That's it!"_ Xanatos sounded annoyed as he jumped to the ground before him. _"What is wrong with you stupid mutts? Any normal group would have given up after the bioweapon he set off back there."_

Bioweap- oh, right, the Max Repel. Man, Xanatos really didn't like that thing.

_"The Taking is done, Tree Flyer."_ The Herdier snarled, and then coughed. _"No more must be Taken."_

Black blinked. Again with this Taking. What the hell was a Taking? He had a feeling it wasn't just capturing Pokemon.

The Herdier attacked before he could ask any questions.

_"Tch!"_ Xanatos leapt back from the initial pounce, responding with a single horizontal Vine Whip while he was still in the air. The Herdier jumped to avoid it from taking out its legs, only for him to get smacked down on the head by the second vine coming down vertically.

Despite the situation, Black was silently impressed. Independent control of separate vines wasn't something most Pokemon or trainers bothered applying in battle seeing as it divided their concentration to two things at once. Then he remembered that this whole bizarre scenario had somehow devolved to a Pokemon battle.

The Herdier slammed into the ground on its jaw. It's didn't stay down for long as soon it was already on its feet and kicking sand up into the air.

"Crap," Black muttered, eyeing the small dust cloud gathering. "Xanatos, retract the vines. No use in aiming blind."

_"Hmph. Coward."_ Xanatos' snake tongue flicked out. It was unclear whether the comment was directed at him or the Herdier. _"The others aren't too far out trainer, so I hope you have a plan."_

In fact, he didn't. "What's your range with those?" he asked, hoping to prevaricate their arrival with some nugget of info.

_"Ten, maybe fifteen feet? I don't know, I've never needed to know this crap before!"_

The Herdier dashed out from the dusty cloud. All Black could think was _'Fast'_ before it was upon Xanatos. It only took an instant for him to realize that Herdier had caused the sand cloud to trigger its Sand Rush ability.

It came in and collided with Xanatos in a Take Down, knocking the snake a few feet onto its back. Without giving pause for him to recover the Herdier jumped on the starter, grabbed the Snivy's leaf tail in its powerful jaw grip, and started jerking Xanatos around like a toy.

An idea sparked in Black's mind as he saw the motion, and suddenly he was transported back to when they ran into that Lillipup.

"Wrap around his neck!" he called out.

The Snivy line may often be regarded as the less offensively oriented between the three Unova starters, but they were still dangerous. So it likely came as a surprise to the Herdier to find his prey suddenly curl around his collar, so much that it even let go of the tail.

_"Ugh! This guy's fur feels like a cheese grater! I can't get a good choke in!"_

Dammit, he forgot about Herdier's naturally steel-like fur. "Go for the tail!"

Xanatos didn't even bother with a verbal acknowledgment. The little green snake slithered down the dog's body, around the Herdier's appendage and squeezed, eliciting a high-pitched yelp of pain from the canine Pokemon. Black smirked victoriously. The tail was the weakest of the Herdier's limbs, and-

_CRACK!_

-and that was the sound of it breaking. The Herdier stopped trying to grab at Xanatos and fell to the ground, panicking as it tried to rid Xanatos of his tail.

Any other time, Black would have claimed it to be overkill. Right now, that was the perfect move to put an end to this mess. Herdier's used their tails to help with balance, and a broken tail was one of the most painful things possible for them.

"Get off him, he can't follow us anymore." Besides, they still had his buddies to worry about. If Xanatos was correct, then they would be upon them any second now.

Xanatos uncurled himself from the Herdier, signature smirk on his little green face. "Lucky you. My trainer doesn't feel like catching you."

Truth be told, Black wasn't even sure he _could_ catch the Herdier. Even now, injured as it was, it still showed such ferocious hostility it was frightening. Was Silver, the Lillipup he caught, the princess of their pack or something?

_"Bask in my glory some other time, trainer! We got company!"_

There were more Herdier coming out of the forest now. Each of them looked dazed and pained to even still be standing let alone chasing him. The spark of hope that had been extinguished by their appearance relit upon seeing their exhausted states. Okay, so maybe it wasn't all lost.

Xanatos retreated to in front of Black. Their backs were to the river now, with the Herdier approaching from the trees. There were maybe ten or twelve of them just from a quick look. Xanatos moved his whips in the air threateningly, maintaining a steady rhythm that outlined their perimeter evenly.

Lines in the sand, as they would say.

Even with the clear warning to stay away and their present states, the Herdier began to close in.

_"The Taking is done." "One to sacrifice." "End with none."_

It was straight out of a cult movie.

There was a ritualistic feeling to the whole thing, one that Black did not agree with. He did not become a Pokemon trainer just to get killed in some bizarre rite by wild Pokemon. Unslinging his bag on to the ground, Black started rummaging in his bag, throwing out any item that wasn't what he was looking for.

He heard Xanatos curse, followed by the sound of a whip cracking. _"Please tell me you're not going to use another one of those damned things. They'll be on top of us before you even get close to popping one."_

"Not what I had in mind," Black muttered to himself, before his face broke out into a grin as he found what he'd been looking for.

He stood up straight and pointed his item at the Herdier. Almost instantly, their slow approach slowed to a complete stop. Inwardly, he let out a sigh of relief.

He had in his hands the flare he'd bought at the Pokemon Center earlier that day. Now, it wasn't that the Herdier were scared of what was essentially a bright firework, but they were hesitant. They didn't know what this strange thing in his hands did, and Black imagined they might have re-evaluated his threat level after his mess with the Max Repel and their friend, who was now just whimpering as he watched the proceedings with wary eyes.

And Black's attitude had changed. He knew it, he could feel it in the air, and he knew the Herdier noticed it as well. He was already backed into a corner, and he really didn't have much to lose by acting desperate. Instinct was probably telling them that he was suddenly bad news.

Or so Black wanted to believe. Without warning, he aimed the flare gun straight at the sky, and pulled the trigger. The firework flew up, bright light nearly blinding to those looking straight at it, who were the Herdier. They stared at the light, mesmerized, until it reached its apex and exploded, shocking them (and even him a little bit) with the noise.

And then he brought the gun down, pointed it straight at them, and hoped they wouldn't call his bluff now that he was out of flares.

The effect was immediate. The Herdier turned around, began trotting back into the forest, occasionally glancing back at him as if to make sure that yes, he still had his toy of sound and light pointing at them. The one that had been entangled with Xanatos slowly got up on its paws, and joined them, its gait noticeably more pained and awkward than the others as it tried to keep its tail still.

After two minutes, the Herdier had all left. After five, Black let his arm fall to his side, and dropped the now empty flare gun. Soon after, he slumped down on his bottom, and let out the breath he'd been holding.

"Never again," Black promised aloud and to no one, "I am never again chasing after Cheren and his thrice-damned morning person crap."

Xanatos slumped down next to him. _"You just bluffed those guys into leaving us."_ Was that respect in its tone?

Black raised an eyebrow, "Oh, you could tell?"

_"You're right eye was twitching,"_ Xanatos explained easily, as if revealing a tell Black didn't even know he had was something trivial. _"That, and I grew up around humans. I know what a flare gun is for, and how many shots something like usually has."_

Well that was new; this was actually the first tidbit that Xanatos revealed about himself that wasn't remotely narcissistic in the slightest. It was somewhat disheartening to Black, who realized that this came about after nearly getting mauled by a pack of Herdier.

_"Just tell me, why didn't you pull it out earlier? Would have saved us a whole lot of trouble." _Actually, it sounded like Xanatos already knew the answer and just wanted to make sure Black did too, like a teacher to their student.

"I was afraid," Black admitted, not feeling the least bit ashamed of this proclamation. "Just wanted to get away from them. Should have realized halfway through the forest that I wouldn't be able to outrun them. I can't swim for shit either, so coming here was a waste of time."

Xanatos chuckled weakly and leaned against the trainer. _"I thought so. You don't give off a very aquatic aura. So what changed?"_

"...I got angry." Black said after a moment of thought. "Everything just seemed like such utter Tauros-shit at that point. I started Pokemon training not even a week ago, and already I've had to deal with crap from you, and then there was that creepy kid N, and the thing with the money and then this? _Fuck_ that!"

The Snivy grinned. _"I'll say. You're a pretty scary fellow when you're angry, trainer. I really thought you were going to shoot them, even though I knew the thing was empty."_

Black stared at the now useless flare gun next to him, he picked it up and inspected it in his hands for a brief moment.

And then he tossed it over his shoulder into the river.

_"That's littering."_ The snake chided.

"Bite me," Black grumbled, "I think I can piss on the great Virizion once as recompense."

_"You exploded a canister of Max Repel in the middle of the forest."_ Xanatos pointed out. _"I'd say you pissed him off pretty well."_

Black rolled his eyes. The most environmentally unfriendly thing about that canister had been the container itself, which was bio-degradable. The chemicals themselves were all perfectly legitimate, their effects were just exacerbated beyond their limits.

The Snivy jumped back up on its feet and stretched, wincing even as he reached for the sky with his stubby little arms. _"Right! I've decided! Congratulations!"_

"...what?"

_"You have graduated from the position of pet trainer and are now to be my personal secretary for when I take over the world."  
_  
Did Xanatos inhale some delayed-effect spores from some psychedelic Amoonguss in the forest when they were running for their lives?

Xanatos walked a few steps away and gestured for Black to follow. _"Come, Black! A new adventure awaits us!"_

Silence reigned.

_"...You want to just chill here for a little while longer?"_

"Yeah." Black nodded.

Thank Arceus. The damn thing was just messing with him. For a moment Black considered throwing the starter in the river too, but then scrapped the thought. Too much effort and knowing the conniving little ass, he'd probably pull him in too.

_"Alright, alright. Budge over will ya?"_ Xanatos said as he plopped right back down next to him. _"And let the children out to play, I need someone to be appreciate my awesome, and you obviously can't."_

Black's response was to flick him upside the head.

* * *

They had no interruptions or anymore 'interesting'events for the rest of the day. Black did indeed let Silver and Inspector out once he was absolutely sure that they were safe and wouldn't have to run for the hills again any time soon. For a moment he was worried that the two of them would start lashing out at each other again when a stare-off ensued between them, but Xanatos quickly diffused any sort of tension between them with his chattering.

Black wasn't paying much attention because he was working on the potion solution again, so he wasn't sure, but he imagined Xanatos had just gained an actual faithful minion in Silver, judging by her awed stare at the grass-type upon hearing how they had handled her elder kin earlier. He would never admit it even under torture, but he was miffed that the stupid snake seemed to garner more loyalty from his team than he did.

Her adoration for Xanatos greatly pleased the snake, and he, in his immense and utterly humble nature, bestowed upon her the title of Number One, and demoted Inspector to Number Two. The excitement in the little puppy was palpable upon hearing this, while Inspector, who by now was a little savvier as to the tricks of his teammate, just sniggered at the reaction.

The teen hated Xanatos for that, as it made the problem of applying the Potion to her injuries all the more troublesome what with her buzzing around like an Emolga on speed. Inspector, still a little cautious due to earlier and his own nature, sat still as a rock as he applied the Potion to the affected areas.

The gratitude in their eyes made the effort worth it in his mind though.

Disinfecting his own wound had not been fun however. When he started washing the wound using the river water, Black had not been expecting for the pain to flare up so suddenly. The bite marks were deep, and they would likely scar, but his collarbone wasn't broken, which was what he had been worried about. He would still get it checked out as soon as he was able though.

Xanatos had been gracious enough to take a break from his monologuing and help tie the bandages around the wound, at which point Silver asked about its origin. Upon hearing his own role in the story, Silver's jaw had actually dropped in amazement.

_"I think I love you."_ She said at one point, and then she rolled over and exposed her stomach, _"Can I have a belly rub?"_

It was one of the most discordant pair of sentences Black had ever heard, but he complied nonetheless, just happy she wasn't going to be another pain in the ass. The happy giggly squeals (he didn't even know Lillipups could squeal) told him that she liked it.

_"It's decided," _She said, as she sat in his lap that night, watching the small fire Black had made for them, "You're going to be my new brother. _You're far better than the ones I had back home. Oooh, right behind the ear! Right there."_ And then she sighed happily.

But Black wanted to protest this. He was supposed to be their trainer, not some goddamn secretary or brother to his own Lillipup. Did they fact that he held their Pokeballs not mean anything to them?

_"Really? Cool. That means I don't have to walk so much anymore!"_ Silver said when he explained his reasoning.

He gave up after that.

Soon after that Black put out the fire, and double-checked the perimeter to see if anything had been disturbed. Upon finding nothing, he deemed it safe and returned to camp. There, he returned Xanatos and Silver to their Pokeballs, both of whom were already peacefully slumbering in a tree and under it respectively. But when he went to return Inspector, he instead found the little Patrat staring up at the sky.

_"Different...lights..."_ Inspector said as he walked up to him. Black looked up at the sky, but he didn't notice anything different about them.

A tugging sensation at his pant leg brought his attention back to his Pokemon. Upon seeing he got his attention, Inspector promptly hugged him, even if he only managed to get his arms around Black's legs.

Frankly, Black was shocked. What had brought this on?

_"Thank...you,"_ Inspector said with some difficulty. His vocabulary had been slowly improving since his capture, but he was still having trouble enunciating things properly.

Which was a whole mental bag of worms in itself, seeing as for all intents and purposes, Inspector was still just squeaking. Black tried not to think too hard on the subject.

"What for?" He said, crouching down to eye level with the Patrat.

Inspector placed his paw on Black's chest. _"Safe. Family."_

Black smiled and put his hand on Inspector's head, ruffling the fur. There wasn't much he could say in response to that. "You're welcome" just felt hollow, even in his head. Besides, a part of Black still felt the tiniest bit guilty about how much damage he did to Inspector when he first caught him.

Which probably explained this little moment, now that he thought about it. Inspector, abandoned by his family, had been basically been offered up to Black so the rest could get away. No matter how instinctive that may have been for everyone involved, that kind of thing left some lasting effects.

And then Inspector pointed to himself and then to Black once again. _"Booyah."_ He said, with the utmost serious face.

That really had been a mistake.

"Yeah, yeah, booyah, I get it." Black tried to dismiss it, "It's getting late. You going to sleep out of your ball tonight?" Inspector shook his head vigorously. Good. Black was still feeling a bit paranoid from earlier, and he would rest easier knowing they couldn't get ambushed inside their balls.

After returning Inspector to his ball, Black retrieved his blanket and climbed the nearest tree. His left shoulder cried out painfully whenever he moved it so he focused on using just his right side.

He'd done this maybe twice in the entirety of his experience with Professor Juniper, and he regretted it the next morning both times. The cricks in his neck took forever to go away.

He found an appropriate sized branch and straddled it. With barely a mutter of discontent, Black pulled the blanket over himself. While being in a tree didn't entirely prevent wild Pokemon attacks, it hopefully kept him away from any of the local threats aside from the Purrloin.

He shivered. The forest was damn loud. Or maybe that was just another sign of his impending insanity. Seriously, talking to Pokemon was one thing, people did that all the time. Actually understanding them and engaging in conversation? That was the sort of thing that got people sent to Castelia's Psychiatric Hospital.

Sleep never came to him that night.

* * *

The next few days passed fairly normally after this. He practiced with Inspector and Silver on the local wildlife, avoiding as many large groups of Pokemon as he could. They were still young, Silver especially so, but that only made their quick progress all the more astonishing. Fortunately it seemed that her usual temperament was toned down during training. He supposed that might have to do with how recently she'd been caught; goofing off in the wild while faced with your own threats never ended well.

They kept to the river's edge, mostly because Black was confident that they would come upon a rest stop soon, not to mention it was still good to have a source of fresh water nearby. Sometimes they ventured into the forest, but that was mostly for gathering any edible berries they could find and for training purposes. Xanatos was predictably the quickest forager, due to the Snivy line's ninja-like speed in the trees.

Fortunately for them, they came upon a rest stop alongside the river, one equipped with medical facilities fortunately. Black took great satisfaction in seeing the disbelief on Xanatos, who had been wondering out loud not a few minutes earlier if Black hadn't read his map wrong. The little snake recovered quickly enough, and was soon marching off in front though, claiming weariness and a need to be attended to by pretty females.

Ass. He wasn't the one sleeping in a tree every night, Black thought, never mind that he would actually enjoy it.

Nevertheless Black was glad to finally reach civilization of a sort. His shoulder was getting worse by the day, and though he was able to put up a brave face in front of his Pokemon, movement of any kind was becoming an ever more painful endeavor. In fact, he had taken to climbing the lower branches of trees now, only because he couldn't support his own weight with one good arm when climbing. Medical treatment of any kind sounded like a godsend.

They didn't do anything serious for him there, but the medics on staff were trained in both Pokemon and human injuries so they knew what to do in cases like this. After sterilizing his wound one more, and taking a blood sample to make sure the wild Herdier hadn't infected him with anything, they handed him some painkillers and sent him on his way.

He couldn't help but think the League was seriously investing in Pokemon trainers these days. This sort of treatment before he was registered as a trainer would have left his family strapped for cash without the League insurance. Then again, it probably wouldn't be too good for their image if they just let young aspiring trainers get sick or stay injured just because their family didn't have enough money. So it really was in the organization's best interest to keep it this way.

There was a bit of a problem when it came to his identification, or so Black thought. When he handed over his Pokedex ID, there seemed to have been a commotion of sorts when the attendant left to input the new information on his file. Nothing seemed to have come of it though, because not soon after they were back and all smiles.

Xanatos loved getting pampered by everybody, and talking crap about them to their faces without them knowing it. Silver was just ecstatic to be somewhere new, and Inspector kept to Black's side the whole time, distrusting the foreignness of the whole place. All in all, everyone enjoyed the small break.

However, so it was that by evening, Black left in a hurry, and totally not because Silver had hoarded several left shoes (he was at a total loss as to how she managed to get them off their owners without their noticing) and...marked them. Which was a problem, as he had been hoping to snag a snack before leaving.

"Why the left shoe specifically, though?" he asked her as they once again sat around a fire.

_"The right ones tasted funny."_ She mumbled as she snuggled against his leg. And that was that.

Everyone slept out of their Pokeball that night, even Inspector, who fell asleep stargazing. And for the first time in days, Black didn't bother with climbing the tree.

**End Chapter 4**

**Author Note: This is the last chapter that has already been written and posted on the Nuzlocke forums. I do invite any readers to go check it out if they haven't already, as it has some fantastic stories there.**

**Next chapter: a bet, a theft, and a gym!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

They herald change.

* * *

There were two lovers, whose families hated each other. They would meet every third night and surrender themselves to the feelings that threatened to overtake them each day.

One was the jewel of his family. He could raise the crops with naught but his voice, and tame the storms with his prayer.

The other was the pride of her clan. She could fight off brigands and armies all on her own, and could dance with the wind like the spirits.

Eventually, the two escaped. They had done their duty, they reasoned. Let the rest pull their weight, they thought.

On the third day after their departure, there was a great roar from the earth. The families blamed each other, and thought not to aid the other. By the morn, the land had swallowed them whole.

* * *

They arrived in Striaton a little over a week after the rest stop. This came as a great relief to Black, who had been getting sick of so many trees around him. The rest stop had been nice, and he was even able to grab some complimentary basic supplies like a fresh map and a few nasty tasting rations, but it hadn't been the same as a real live city. Not to mention he was still without money. The few trainers he'd battled along the way had not been helpful in increasing his funds, as most of them relied on electronic transfer than cash.

Xanatos was beside him, leisurely meandering yet still keeping pace with Black as the teen walked into the city. It was larger than Accumula had been. In fact it was practically twice the size of Accumula and Nuvema put together. This made for a very daunting feeling as he passed the town boundaries.

A feeling that quickly vanished as he was ambushed from behind by a very excitable blonde.

"Black! You're here!" Biance babbled excitedly as she lifted him in the air with her hug. Just how strong was this girl? "You'rehereyou'rehereyou'rehere! Like, oh my gosh, I thought you had gone back or something and then I thought that you totally wouldn't do that because you and Cheren-"

"Bianca, breathe! Breathe!" Black gasped out, wincing in pain as he felt his shoulder wound twinge uncomfortably. It had been doing much better since he got some proper treatment, but it still ached occasionally.

His reaction did not go unnoticed by the girl, who put him down and turned him around so she could get a good look at him. "Are you alright?" she said, brows furrowed as she stood back and took his appearance in. "You look like you've kinda' had it rough."

Black just chuckled weakly. Rough was putting it lightly. He was never taking any damn shortcuts again.

"Why don't we talk it over lunch or something?" Black offered, unconsciously rubbing his collar and not looking at her, hoping to pass off the red on his face as too much time in the sun.

Bianca just laughed and waved it off. "I'd love to, but I promised daddy I'd meet up with him at his job today for that."

"Right, your dad." He couldn't help but think that man had serious control issues. "Where does he work again?"

The blonde seemed startled by the question. "Oh, I forget, I think it was the Harmony Corporation?"

"Oh. Cool." He had no idea what that was.

The teen tried to pretend the sinking feeling in his gut was because of the rations that morning. Bianca seemed to notice his disappointment, and suddenly she too looked a bit discombobulated to be in his presence. Strangely, that made him feel just a little bit better.

Before either of them could say anything, Xanatos reached out with his vine whip, grabbed Bianca's hand, and pressed it against the button on the pokeball attached to Bianca's bag strap. The usual flash of light appeared, followed by the menacing expression of Bianca's Dewott.

Wait. What.

"I see you evolved Monty." Black said lightly, now feeling embarrassed just by being there. He had to tell Xanatos later that releasing another trainer's pokemon like that was not polite. Or possibly even legal. Hell, even grabbing Bianca like that had been questionable. "That was…fast."

"Oh, umm, yeah."

Fast was putting it lightly. They got their first pokemon not even a month ago, and suddenly here she showed up with an evolved starter already. It dawned on Black that he might be more behind his friend's than he thought, even without the delay that the Herdier attack had caused. If Bianca was like this, Black couldn't even imagine how Cheren would be.

"_So," _Xanatos said, as he walked around and inspected the now taller pokemon, _"has sunshine realized you're a girl, or have you been acting as her _strong _and -most importantly- _male _knight in shining armor this whole time?"_

The Dewott looked like it wanted to club the Snivy for his question, but one look at her trainer stopped her from following through.

And here Snivy smiled. _"All this strength though…don't you get lonely? I mean, I can't imagine that she really lets you out for anything but training, and if you're already at this point, she can't have even bothered with getting someone else to train."_

Monty (or Montana, as Black resolved to call her in his mind) tensed. That explained it then, Bianca hadn't caught any more pokemon since they had left, which meant that she had trained Montana exclusively. She'd have to train day in and day out to get to the point that she did that quickly, but once she did, Montana likely wasn't going to stay as an Oshawott any longer, if only to push her trainer to do something else.

Black frowned. What was Bianca doing though? The Striaton gym was all about trashing strategies like this. The gym leaders got a look at your league record and your pokemon, and then picked out the ones they thought most suitable for the challenge. Early evolutions like this only resulted in the gym leaders bringing out similarly leveled pokemon. The difference being that they were a lot more experienced in using and battling them.

Bianca returned Dewott to her pokeball. The look on her face was sheepish. "I guess you've seen my secret weapon. I was hoping to surprise you and Cheren when we next battled."

Black pinched the bridge of his nose but he couldn't find it in himself to be irritated with her. The female part of their little trio always had been the least devious of the lot so it didn't surprise him in the least that this was her idea of a secret weapon.

"WellnicetoseeyoulaterBlack," Bianca said as she turned around and practically ran away.

He didn't know why she was so adamant on getting away from him, but he put it out of his mind. The girl was flighty and a bit guileless, but deliberately inconsiderate? Impossible.

He found Cheren easily enough when he got to the downtown pokemon center. The glasses-wearing teen had been heading out, a Purrloin at his side. It was an abnormally large one too, easily a few pounds heavier, but proportioned evenly like a regular Purrloin.

In his mind, Black couldn't help but sigh. Lucky bastard. He'd been fighting Purrloin for days but most of them seemed more interested in running away than battling. He didn't want to catch someone that was afraid of pokemon battles; he'd just feel horrible about it.

Stupid talking-to-pokemon-thing.

"Black." Cheren nodded at him.

"Cheren," Black returned. Then he retrieved the Xtransciever that he'd been tasked to deliver. "Old Cravan asked me to bring this to you."

An eyebrow went up. "Asked?"

He snorted. "Fine. She practically hung me out her window with her rotten wooden cane and threatened to feed my uvula to her pet Stoutland. By the way, what's a uvula?"

That got a reaction out of Cheren. The boy rolled his eyes and took the device from Black's hands. "It's the dangly thing in your mouth," Cheren explained tonelessly as he strapped the device on. "And you're a terrible liar by the way. You haven't taken a step inside Silver Wing since we were kids, much less head up to the bat's office."

"Nice to see you're still the same." Really, would it kill the guy to even say thanks?

"Likewise. Thank you, by the way." And then Black retracted his previous thought. "Now you can tell me what the hell happened to you. You look like Aurea that time she got back from Kanto."

"_Aw, look! He's calling her by her first name already!" _Xanatos, who was still by his side, chose this moment to pipe up. _"How precious." _

Cheren's Purrloin just looked confused at the byplay between them.

"Why don't I tell you over lunch?" Black tentatively offered. "It's kind of a long story and I'd like to hear from you too."

Cheren nodded, and then smiled. The first positive expression on his face yet. "I know a nice place a few blocks from here. They have crêpes and some delicious iced tea there."

Black nodded. "That sounds great." And then he had another thought. "You're buying."

"Excuse me?" The indignation in his voice was very impressive, Black tiredly thought. Definitely prima donna level right there.

"Believe me, you'll know why when I'm done."

Cheren took a long and drawn out sip of his iced tea when Black was done. "You're an idiot."

Black responded. Colorfully. A nearby mother put her hands over her child's eyes and gave him a glare fit for a Garchomp. "Care explaining why?"

The other boy just sat back put his hand to his chin, one arm propping the other. His eyes were closed as he thought on his words. "Well, for one, you forgot that the flares available to us all have an inbuilt Repel on them to help keep wild pokemon away while we wait. You could have avoided the whole sprinting like a madman thing just by going straight for that."

Actually, Black hadn't even known that to begin with, but he wasn't going to go pleading ignorance on this.

"Secondly, you had an Xtransciever on you, right?" Upon seeing him nod, Cheren continued, "So instead of trekking injured for days through a forest where you had already been attacked, and apparently really badly judging by how you still favor doing things with your right, _you could have called for help._"

Now this was actually getting annoying. "Tch, you act like I didn't think of that before. Do you think I liked sleeping in a freaking tree?"

For a moment Cheren looked like he was going to say 'yes', but instead he settled for, "Then what happened?"

"Transciever's weren't working for me," Black groused, "Both mine and yours. Kept getting nothing but static, so I thought I was in a dead zone. I get to here, and suddenly, BAM, things are working again."

Cheren just gave him a disbelieving look. "Right."

Black just sighed. He wasn't going to convince his friend on this no matter what.

"Regardless, it's good to see that you are safe, my friend." Here came another one of his rare smiles. "We still haven't had our rematch."

"Nice to know you care," Black shot back sarcastically.

The other teen shrugged but didn't rise to the bait.

"I've been in this city a few days now," he said, changing the subject. "Fought a few of the gym trainers. And took on a few more travelers. Most of the people around here are out of my league." The unspoken _And yours too_ was clear. "But it was good practice for the gym."

Black inwardly rolled his eyes. "Careful, your obsessive side is showing again."

"It's called being prepared," the other boy calmly replied. "It's something you should know by now that I like to do. Little mistakes notwithstanding." He was referring to the X-Transciever. It was darkly amusing to Black that he nearly got mauled because of Cheren's little mistake.

Xanatos chose this moment to pipe up. _"I present to you the great and mighty Black, beholden to being the errand boy of the knave Cheren." _

A quick glare in his direction only made the snake snigger. The Purrloin opposite them kept looking back and forth between the two of them.

"Have you been having problems?" Cheren said, a slight frown decorating his face. "It doesn't seem like you are getting along well with…Xanatos, was it?"

"What? No, we're fine." Black waved it off. "Think of it as bonding. He laughs at me. I withhold food for the night."

The concern on the other boy's face was legitimate. "That's illegal, Black!"

"And I am joking, Cheren." _Mostly_, he added to himself. Was he going to let his pokemon go hungry? No. Was he above putting foul tasting but perfectly healthy flavoring on the little snake's food once in a while? Also no.

They stayed like that, chattering about meaningless things for a while. It felt more refreshing than Black had expected, catching up with his old friend. It seemed his friend had already changed since their departure from Nuvema; he seemed more accepting, more humble. Or maybe Black's own perception of the boy had changed. Xanatos had the effect of making everyone else seem like a saint in comparison.

Eventually when it came to leave, Black managed to guilt Cheren into paying his part. There might have been some exaggerated phrases like "nearly died trying to deliver this" and "you're a heartless bastard if you let me get in trouble because of this" and such, but nobody could prove that.

"I can't believe you did that," Cheren muttered as they exited the cafe. "Have you no shame?"

Black gave him a small grin. "Nope. I really am broke. _I _can't believe you were so willing to leave me behind like that."

"_No. I agree with him, trainer," _said Xanatos, bringing up their rear, _"that was embarrassing. And totally manipulative. I give you a six out of ten because you already had an in with him, and because that was some magnificent guilt-tripping."_

"Whatever," Cheren blew off a stray hair covering his eye. "Now I can safely say however, that you owe me."

Black wanted to protest this, but he silenced himself mid-speech because he already had an idea of what his friend wanted. "Rematch?" he asked resignedly.

"Rematch."

Well, it wasn't like their reunion wasn't building up to this anyways. They just had to find a place to battle. While technically people could battle anywhere, it was just common courtesy to not do so in the middle of the street, with people and cars passing by.

He couldn't help but point out something though. If not for himself, the for Cheren's own benefit. "You know you don't have to beat every trainer to be the Champion right? Everyone loses once in a while."

Only Alder was the exception, but that man was just supernatural in his handling of Pokemon. He had not a single loss to his name for all his 50+ years of battling, something not even the other regions' Champions could boast about. They at least, had suffered some losses in the beginning of their careers, but Alder maintained his perfect record for over half a century.

"It's not just about the Champion title, Black," Cheren said. There was a far off look in his eye. "It's something that I need to do for myself."

"For yourself?" Black couldn't help but remain skeptical.

"I need to prove a few people wrong," Cheren just said softly, stopping to pick up his Purrloin in his arms. Because of the size, the cat just looked comically out of place there.

But Black bit back a retort on the tip of his tongue. Cheren had his own issues, and if he wanted to elaborate he'd do so.

"What about you, Black?" Cheren posed a question back to him. "What are you doing all this for?"

Black thought process stumbled as he formulated his answer. "I…I'm doing this for-"

"Oof!" Something collided with his side, knocking him and Cheren to the ground. Black closed his eyes and grit his teeth as his shoulder complained violently like it hadn't for days. He opened his eyes and blinked back the tears that had formed.

"_Weirdo?"_

"Xanatos?" came a familiar young voice. "What are you- oh my, Black! Are you all right?" Bright green hair entered his vision, along with what seemed like a bundle of clothes. "I'm sorry, I wish I could talk I- I have to leave!"

"N?" Black asked, getting to his feet gingerly. It was too late though, as he saw the boy already running down the street.

"You know that child?" Cheren asked, looking discomfited with his now rustled clothing.

"Someone I met in Accumula." Black replied as he started walking in the same direction as the younger boy had gone. "Weird kid. Polite. Green hair."

"_Green_ hair?" The other boy looked perplexed. "Dyed?"

Black shrugged. He didn't bother to ask the last time he met the kid, and he honestly wasn't that interested then, still coming to terms with the talking pokemon thing as he had been. Besides, he was more worried about what that bundle in N's arms had been. He didn't get a good look-see, but he could have sworn that that had been a blue tail hanging out.

"I'm going to check on him," Black told his friend, who kept rubbing his elbow. "He looked like he was in trouble."

"He looked like he was afraid of getting in trouble, is what he did."

Eh?

Cheren elaborated upon seeing Black's questioning look. "He looked just like you used to whenever Mrs. Cravan caught you sneaking from the cookie jar."

The worst part about his description wasn't how incredibly remorseful it made Black feel, but that it really was the truth. Black had to admit to himself that he had been a little terror when he was younger. "You coming with?" Black asked, looking from Cheren to his Purrloin.

The other boy just sighed and shook his head. "You go on. I'll meet up with you later. I'm staying at the west side Poke Center when you want to have our battle. If anything happens though, get the police."

No need to tell him twice. The thing with the Herdier had been one thing, but Black was not going to chance something dangerous happening. People were a lot squishier than pokemon after all, and Black wasn't naïve enough to believe that Striaton didn't have its own seedy side underneath all the sunshine.

Some part of Black was glad that this happened. He had been dreading his rematch against Cheren ever since he ran into the teen at the Poke Center. It was not that Black didn't have any faith in his pokemon, but after seeing Bianca with her Dewott and Cheren with his overly large Purrloin he felt that caution was the better part of valor in this case.

Well, that and he honestly wanted to preserve his reigning champ status among his friends. It wasn't like anybody could sue him for being selfish.

Finding N had not been hard. The young boy had been running towards the outskirts of the city, and he kept leaving a trail of disarray behind him. It was mostly just strewn about trashcans and the occasional knocked down person, but it was clear that stealth was not on the boy's mind at all.

When Black came upon them, N was bent over with his hands on his knees and breathing hard. He was missing his cap from before, leaving his already eccentric green hair even wilder than before. On the ground beside him were an open Luxury Ball and the rag he'd been holding before. Xanatos was holding on to the rag and dragging it across his shoulders like a cape.

"_Not really my style," _Xanatos quipped. _"It's not amazing enough. Smells like someone pissed in it too."_

Black gave his starter a dirty look, but he wisely kept his mouth shut. Instead, he focused on the kid, who was still red in the face from his exertion. "You alright?"

"What- Oh, hello Black," N said wheezily as he straightened his posture, "I apologize for running into you back there."

"Don't worry about it," Black dismissed, "You seemed like you were in a hurry. Anything happen?"

The younger boy smiled mysteriously. "Yes, I suppose you can say much has happened."

"_Did that make no sense to you too?" _Xanatos asked Black directly. Truthfully the teen had as much a clue as he did.

Black shot him a look that he hoped conveyed his message to shut-the-hell-up before bending down and picking up the open Poke Ball. "Did you…release one of your Pokemon?"

That would make no sense though. N himself had said that he wasn't a Pokemon trainer; unless he had lied, whose Luxury Ball was this?

"I'm sorry for interrupting you back there, Black," N said, ignoring the previous question and bowing slightly. This sudden formality left Black uneasy. "But I really must be going. I have much that I need to do. My father awaits me."

And with that, the twelve-year old turned about face and started walking away, leaving a bewildered Black and a Snivy that was feeling very unimportant to the conversation.

"_What a freak." _Xanatos stated, staring at the back of the weird boy, _"There is something not right with that child."_

"I wonder if it's the green hair," Black said lightly, trying to figure out what the hell just happened, "Maybe the color seeps into his brain and makes him socially retarded."

The Snivy smacked his pantleg with his tail. _"Don't badmouth the magnificence of the Green."_

Black chuckled but soon fell silent as he stared at the empty ball in his hand. Hadn't the nurse said that the Poke Balls were genetically locked? If so, how had N released anything from this if he wasn't the owner?

The teen let out a sigh. "This whole thing is just messed up."

"_You're telling me. I just ran out here for nothing." _Xanatos sounded annoyed now. _"Not even a gold star. Ugh."_

"Let's just go." Black said, pocketing the ball as he saw the sun already nearing the horizon. "We can still go and get our asses kicked before dark."

Xanatos made a clicking noise that sounded disappointed. _"And this is where you shall lose thy doubt, trainer. Last time may not have been proof enough, but I guess I'll have to show you."_

Black raised a brow, unimpressed by the starter's tone. "Show me what?"

The Snivy's trademark smirk appeared. _"I _don't _lose."_

They didn't lose.

To Black, who had been seriously expecting a sound defeat, albeit one hard-fought and well-deserved, it came as a shock to him. He imagined his friend opposite of him on the field probably was going through something similar to him, except in reverse.

It had started off as a surprise to Black, who had sent out Xanatos in an effort to take down Cheren's first pokemon and possibly weaken the other boy's starter before being knocked out. It came as a nasty surprise for Black to see a Tepig opposite of Xanatos when they both appeared on the field though.

It seemed Cheren had anticipated his plan, and decided to burn it in the bud.

And then Xanatos pulled off a freaking Leaf Tornado. Again, and again, and again to the point that not even Black or Cheren could properly see what was going on. There were streams of fire that occasionally managed to blast threw the veritable cloud of leaves surrounding the battlefield, but all they could see was the dust and the tree leaves blowing about.

When they storm had finally died down, Cheren was treated to the sight of his Tepig conked out on the ground right next to…Silver. And from there, it had been a matter of switching back out to Xanatos to do the Purrloin in.

"You switched them during that storm," Cheren stated neutrally as he walked up to Black to shake his hand. Black could only numbly stare at the field.

And all he could think was along the lines of "That bullshit strategy actually worked!"

A hand came down on his shoulder as Cheren pass him by. "Well-played."

Black blinked. "Hey, Cheren, you alright?" he said. There was something off about the way he had spoken before.

Cheren lowered his head so that his bangs covered his eyes. "Yeah. I'm fine." And then he turned away. "You should give the Gym a try soon. There are three Leaders here so you generally don't need to book a time for the battle."

"Oh. Thanks." This could not possibly get any more awkward. "I'll just go now."

"Have a good evening," Cheren called out, his voice even and unbroken.

As he walked away, with Silver at his side chattering nonstop about how well she did and how it was all thanks to her big brother, Black felt the oppressive aura of twilight descend upon him.

"_You know," _Xanatos idly said, _"I don't think I'd have liked that kid too much if he'd been the one to pick me. Too intense for my tastes."_

The snake probably didn't know it, but that little comment made Black feel far better than the victory itself.

Black smiled as he got out of the shower, feeling cleaner than he had been in weeks. All the grime and dirt from his journey through Route 1 was now happily draining away into the Striaton sewer system, probably joining with more grime and dirt from Route 1 and the various other surrounding areas.

When he stepped out of the bathroom, he was entirely prepared to deal with his excitable team and each of their unique quirks. He had an especially fluffy blanket for Silver, had opened the roof window for Inspector, and had even managed to get Xanatos a Razz Berry from one of the senior trainers in the Center.

He was not prepared to see a Panpour hanging from the ceiling light by its tail. Or for said Panpour to throw something at him that he just barely dodged out of instinct. The mystery object hit the bathroom wall behind him and fell into the toilet.

"_Sorry about that, kika!" _said the Panpour, _"Your right-hand said he approved of me joining and that you had to finalize it with your banana signature, kika!"_

Black stared. He'd be certain he was being punk'd if the whole thing didn't involve talking Pokemon again. As it was, he was only fifty percent certain.

He looked to the rest of the Pokemon in the room. Silver and Inspector were simultaneously watching TV and playing around with items from his pack. His gaze zeroed in on Xanatos, whose eyes twinkled like a fat man's in a red suit.

"_In my defense she threatened to throw her poo at me until I said yes."_

The Panpour did an impressive front flip from her hanging on the ceiling and tried to land a kick on the Snivy's face. _"You weren't supposed to tell him that, kika!"_

Black didn't even know Panpour's could blush like that. Then again, that subject had never really popped up on any sort of examination Juniper sprang on him.

"Not that I want you to stop hitting him," Black interrupted (it really was funny to watch), "but…why? Actually, where did you even come from? The nearest habitat for your species is at least a good three weeks journey away."

The unnamed Panpour just shrugged. _"I know not of what I was before I woke up in the forest right outside of town, kika. I don't know how I got there, just that when I saw you show up and start talking smart-like I wanted to know more, kika."_

And suddenly she was in front of him, and kneeling before him, like a knight to her king. _"Please, boss, kika! Let me join your Family, kika! You are strong and that is-"_

Black decided to head her off. He was too tired for this right now.

"Grab a pillow. Don't make too much noise at night. And feel free to hit -what did you call him? Oh right- feel free to hit my right-hand as much as you want should he disturb you or anyone else." Upon seeing the indignant look on Xanatos' face, Black couldn't help but add, "Actually, feel free to hit him just out of principle."

The Panpour looked at him askance. _"Just like that, kika? Don't I need to prove my worth by going on incredibly difficult assassination mission where-"_

"No," Black stopped her. He could tell she was going to be an interesting one. "I'm tired, I'm sleepy, and I have absolutely no assassination missions or anything like that to give to you. Just do whatever you want and try not to throw too much poo around."

There was that embarrassed blush again. Followed by what seemed like tears in her little eyes. _"Truly you are a magnificent boss, kika! I will serve you to the end of my days, kika! No one else shall-"_

A pillow hit her head and knocked her over. Black mentally congratulated himself for such a perfect shot from his position on the bed. "I get it, Candy. You're excited. Go play with the kids or something."

Candy the Panpour just seemed to jitter with excitement upon being given her name. Honestly, that might have been the wrong name to give her. It sounded like a stripper's name. But he wasn't going to change it now, because then he might actually have to explain to his still young and naïve partners what a stripper was.

He felt something shift at the foot of his bed. Please don't let every night be like this, he thought. "What is it, Candy?"

"_Ah, well, you still need to touch the artifact and give it your banana signature, kika." _The monkey sounded sheepish as she said that.

"My what now?"

"_Your _genetic_ signature, you ungrateful secretary." _Xanatos grumbled from the other side of the room, munching on the Razz Berry Black traded for. _"You still need to capture her. And she is insisting on that fancy bauble you picked up back there with Weirdo."_

Black sighed, and started to get up, only for him to freeze midway.

Hadn't that thing fallen in the toilet?

"Hmmm…" said the tech as he looked over the Luxury Ball. "There doesn't seem to be any structural damage done to the inside, which is what ye really have to worry when it comes to repairs."

The thirty-something man looked up from his workbench at Black. His receding red hairline was almost masked by the pair of visor on his head. His weepy eyes looked cartoonish combined with the loupes on his coke-bottle glasses. "Ye say ye just got this yesterday, boy? From a friend, was it?"

Black wished he wouldn't call him boy. It made him feel awfully young. "Yeah, he just wanted to get rid of the thing for some reason. I just wanted to make sure t wasn't defective or anything."

The Poke Ball tech shook his head and stood up from his bench. He was wearing blue overalls that looked slicked with something oily, and Black wondered what a Poke Ball technician did to get that much grease on himself.

"Hmmmm, mind if I take a look at the rest of your set, boy?" the man asked. "S'not like it'll cost anything now anyways."

Yawning, the teen motioned for him to go ahead as he deposited his Poke Balls on the counter.

"Ye might want to rest up for a bit, boy," the main said disdainfully, "Ye look like ye slept inside a Cofagrigus last night."

Black mumbled some thanks and went sit on the nearby sofa. The Poke Ball tech had his own special corner of the Poke Center, so the place was well furnished. The teen tried to keep awake by paying attention to something on the TV, but found himself fighting a lost battle as he gently descended into a blissful nap.

Until he was awoken by the sound of Silver crying in pain.

His eyes snapped open then, and he jumped up, ready to run to his Lillipup's guard at any moment, if only he could-

He stopped. On the TV was the scene of a wounded Lillipup, one who sounded a lot like Silver. Her left front paw looked disfigured, and she had a few scars on her face and body. She looked to be trembling in fear.

Underneath her were captions saying, "Why don't you love me?"

The teen's throat hitched. Dammit, he hated this commercial. It was entirely too manipulative to be allowed on TV.

"This is just one of the Pokemon, we of the Harmony Corporation have rescued," came the gently steady voice of the teleprompter. "Nativa here only wanted to feel the warm and loving embrace of a trainer, a friend. And look what her devotion has gotten her."

Several more images passed, each in incredibly quick succession. They were not very gruesome, but heart-wrenching all the same.

"Please help stop Pokemon abuse," the same voice said, this time more firm. "Reaper Games claim at least 23 Pokemon everyday. If you suspect anything wrong, call the authorities and say 'There's a little one looking for Harmony' and we will respond as quickly as possible."

The commercial cut to a picture of the League symbol. "This message is officially sponsored by the Harmony Corporation in association with the Unova Pokemon League."

So _this_ was where Bianca's father worked at, Black realized, sitting back down on the sofa. It made little sense to him, seeing as how the man detested his daughter's fascination with Pokemon journeying, but then again, not everyone had the leisure of getting a job they loved.

A loud smack from the tech's corner brought Black's attention back to the counter, where his Poke Balls once again resided. "Everything all right?" he asked as he approached.

The tech just turned his weepy-looking eyes onto him and nodded. "Yeah. Not a single problem among the lot of them."

So used to mishaps as he was, this was more concerning to Black than no issues at all. There had been a problem with damn near every single piece of technology surrounding him since the start of his journey, and he had already resigned himself to being cursed and trudging through his journey without functional tech.

"Err, thanks," Black said as he strapped the Poke Balls to his belt.

The technician was staring at him very intensely for some reason.

"Well, I'll just be going now," he announced, hoping the man would turn away and get back to doing his tech-y stuff.

The man just grunted. "Ye take good care of that team of yours, boy."

"Yeah, sure, I will. Bye." And with that said, the teen practically fled the area.

Black killed some time by practicing with each of his Pokemon in one of the small training areas supplied by the city for public use. He had this incredibly nagging sensation in the back of his head though, it reminded him uncomfortably from when those Herdier had been hunting him.

At first he thought he was being watched by either Cheren or Biance, and so he toned down any excessive orders to his team so as to not give away too much to the two of them. That thought disappeared quickly though, as he realized that while Cheren was a bit of a jerk, he would never stoop to spying on Black (mostly, he theorized, because the boy was just so damn proper). And Bianca had fallen asleep for any and all subtlety classes life gave out. Yesterday's encounter only proved that.

After a certain point though, Black just gave up trying to find his mystery stalker, if he even had one. He would be the first one to admit that he was not alright, and hadn't been for a while, but to hazard the thought that he might actually be seeing things that weren't there…well, he wasn't quite ready to admit that to himself yet.

The feeling lasted with him until he decided to just call it quits and head for the Gym now that everyone was warmed up. One of the biggest mistakes beginner trainers made when going into a tough Pokemon was in assuming that all they had to do to prepare their Pokemon was give them a good night's rest at a Pokemon Center. And while many could get by with just that, there were plenty who were unprepared for the sudden intensity with which Gym battles could get right from the get go.

When he arrived at the Striaton Gym, it was already mid-afternoon as he had planned. This particular one was both a restaurant and an officially licensed Pokemon Gym. Gym battles were conducted on a platform in the middle of the restaurant, to be viewed by the clientele as entertainment. Specially trained Pokemon would help serve the food and do little shows whenever there wasn't a battle going on. The non-Leader staff were available to be challenged too, as helpful preparation for the Leaders.

Of course, this all mattered little to Silver, who was absolutely freaking out at the smell of the delicious food being served everywhere.

"_Om nom nom nom nom! Om nom nom nom!" _she said, making biting noises as she kept trying to leap out of Black's arms towards the food. _"C'mon, big brother! It looks so tastyyyyy~"_

Black grimaced as he reaffirmed his grip on the excitable little one. "Not now, Silver. I promise, as soon as we're done with our Gym battle, I'll get you a cut of some of that, but right now we have to win big brother the money to do that."

It was true. Even though he had visited his bank's branch earlier that morning and replaced his electronic transfer card, Black was dismayed to realize that he in fact did not have as much money in his account as he thought he did. So buying a nice expensive meal like the ones before them? Absolutely out of the question.

"_Ooh, what's that!?" _the little puppy said before she escaped from his arms and ran into the mess of tables that occupied the building. Black went after her, if only to keep her out of trouble so that they wouldn't get kicked out of the restaurant.

He found her right at the foot of the platform, staring at the events that were happening on stage.

It was with a jolt that he realized that one of the people on it was Bianca. Opposite of her on the battlefield was a man in his mid-twenties dressed as a waiter. He had dark brown hair with green highlights on the ends, and it was combed back in a very professional manner.

Black looked at the field, and then cringed. Bianca's Dewott was down on its knee, its conch shell still in its hand and readied as a weapon. Opposite of the ferocious creature was what looked to be a giant ball of cotton, but was in fact what Black knew to be a Whimsicott.

"Monty, you can do it!" Bianca called out. From Black's perspective it looked like not even she believed her own words.

Monty, for her part, looked willing to continue. The only problem though was that bum leg of hers, which looked like it had several painful boils all around it. The Dewott just grunted and made a come hither motion from her position on the floor.

The Gym Leader's Whimsicott just giggled though. It twirled and jumped in mid-air, letting loose some harmless shiny pollen it had gathered up in its fur.

All in all, it was actually a huge insult to Monty, who now looked positively murderous.

"_Brother," _Silver said from beside him, _"I'm scared."_

Black bent down and picked her up in his arms, scratching the back of her eyes. The little puppy really was nervous, and he could understand why. What the hell did Bianca do to Monty to make her turn out this way? The little Oshawott from Nuvema town had not seemed nearly so dangerous before.

In his corner, the Gym Leader crossed his arms and sighed disappointedly. "Finish this with Poison Powder, Chimes."

Finish it, he wondered. How, though? Poison Powder was widely regarded as a set up move, one to help facilitate the course of a battle, not serve as a finisher.

Within two seconds, Black realized what the Leader had meant.

Chimes the Whimsicott soared over the Dewott, little poisonous particles trailing behind it like a venomous rainbow. Monty leapt up at the Whimsicott, Razor Shell at the ready to slash him, but she barely missed him due to her own leg. The water-type fell back down, clutching her leg and hissing unintelligible words.

And then the Poison Powder started to settle on Monty, who only realized it a second too late. She swiped at the air, trying to throw off some of the poisonous particles, but it was too late for her. The air was thick with the stuff, and soon she was on the ground once more, her breath becoming heavier by the second.

She lunged at the Whimsicott, wielding one of her scalchops like a sword. _"Fight me!" _she screamed, _"Stop playing around and fight me!"_

But instead of answering her desperate plea, Chimes just sniggered some more and dodged the strike by a hair's breadth, passing right through the water-types guard.

Monty turned, blade still ready, and tried to slash the grass-type while it was still close, only to growl in frustration as he opponent only leaned back. All she managed was to cut off some of the cotton hanging over the Whimsicott's forehead.

"_STOP! DODGING!" _"Come on, Monty! Power through it! Use Water Gun!"

What was Bianca doing, Black wondered. Using a Water Gun in her situation? Monty could barely hold any air in her lungs, there was no way she would be able to launch even a stream of water.

But Monty couldn't move. She had fallen on her knee once more, scalchop falling out of her hand. It was hard to get a good look from his position next to the platform, but Black thought she was clutching her chest, where her heart was. He grimaced. Poison Powder was a slow damaging move, but this was just cruel.

"_Brother…she's crying," _Silver whined in his arms, _"Stop her. Please. Brother, stop her hurting."_

"I'm sorry", Black whispered to her gently, and brought out her Poke Ball. "Here. Get back in the ball."

She nudged it away with her snout._ "No. I –I want to see this."_

He just clicked his tongue disappointedly. He didn't want her to see this. Hell, _he _didn't want to see this.

"Do you yield, Trainer Bianca?" the Gym Leader called out, loud and demanding.

"N-No!" Bianca cried out. "Monty can do this!"

Just as she said that the Poke Ball on her bag strap issued a loud noise like a car horn, and shot out a red beam towards her starter. The light engulfed her prone form, and soon enough, she was gone, safely returned to her home.

So that's what the Emergency Recall System was like, Black couldn't help but think.

All was quiet in the restaurant. He looked around; even the second floor gallery was quiet, enraptured yet horrified by the events below.

Bianca fled the stage. She was quiet in her escape, making strides with her head down and hand over her bonnet, covering her face. The silence in the building only ceased when the exit door's closed after her departure with a loud bang.

The Gym Leader followed her progress, a small frown on his face. He had a thin face, with a sharp chin and a defined jaw, and Black supposed someone might even have described him as handsome. As it was, he just wanted to punch his teeth in.

Finally the man's eyes landed on Black, and then on Silver. The little puppy squirmed in his arms.

Suddenly, the man's face broke out into a grin. "Greetings!" he yelled from his place on the platform. "My name is Cilan ala Dente! And welcome to the Striaton City Gym!"

Thunderous applause from all around them rose at that proclamation.

Well. Shit.

**End Chapter 5**


End file.
